User manual

Q Light Controller Plus
User Documentation
Updated to version 4.9.0
June, 27th 2015
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Basics
Basic Concepts & Glossary
Questions & Answers
Advanced
Command-Line Parameters
Manual parameters tuning
GUI style customization
Kiosk mode
Web Interface
Main Window
DMX Monitor
DMX Address tool
DMX Dump
Live Edit
Fixture Manager
Add/Edit Fixtures
Fixture Group Editor
Channels Groups Editor
Fixtures remapping
How to add fixtures
Function Manager
Scene Editor
Chaser Editor
Show Editor
EFX Editor
Collection Editor
RGB Matrix Editor
RGB Script API
Script Editor
Function Wizard
Select Functions
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Select Fixtures
Show Manager
Virtual Console
Button
Button Matrix
Add Button Matrix
Slider
Slider Matrix
Animation
Speed Dial
XY Pad
Cue List
Frame
Solo Frame
Label
Audio triggers
Select Input Channel
Widget Styling & Placement
Simple Desk
Input/Output
Input/Output mapping
Input profiles
Audio Input/Output
Plugins:
ArtNet
DMX USB
E1.31 (sACN)
Enttec Wing
HID
Loopback
MIDI
OLA
OSC
Peperoni
uDMX
Velleman
Fixture Definition Editor
Capability Editor
Capability Wizard
Channel Editor
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Fixture Editor
Mode Editor
Head Editor
Tutorials
Scene tutorial
Multipage frame tutorial
Sound control tutorial
BCF2000 + LC2412 tutorial
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Basic Concepts & Glossary
Q Light Controller Plus (QLC+ for short) is meant to control lighting equipment used in various
performances, like live concerts and theatres etc. The main intention is that QLC+ will be able to
outperform commercial lighting desks without the need for a 500+ page manual through the use
of an intuitive and flexible user interface.
This page has been arranged in alphabetical order to facilitate searching for a specific topic.
Audio
An audio function is an object representing an audio file stored in a disk.
QLC+ supports the most common audio formats like Wave, MP3, M4A, Ogg and Flac. It supports
mono or stereo channels and several sample rates like 44.1KHz, 48KHz, etc...
Audio functions can be placed in Chaser or in a Show at the desired time, using the Show
Manager panel.
Like most of the QLC+ functions, Audio supports fade in and fade out times.
Warning: Even though QLC+ allows you to, it is not possible to play two audio files
simultaneously. Especially on Windows, you might experience unwanted crashes.
Blackout
Blackout is used to set all channels in all universes to zero and keep them that way, regardless of
which functions are currently being run or what values have been set to them manually. When
blackout is turned off, the current values of all channels are sent to each universe.
Capabilities
Some channels in intelligent fixtures provide many kinds of functions, or capabilities like
switching the lamp on when the channel value is [240-255], setting a red color on a color wheel
when the value is exactly [15], or simply controlling the fixture's dimmer intensity with values [0255]. Each of these individual function is called a capability and each of them has these three
properties:
Minimum value: The minimum channel value that provides a capability.
Maximum value: The maximum channel value that provides a capability.
Name: The friendly name of a capability.
Channel Groups
Channel groups can be added and defined in the Fixture Manager panel by using the Channel
groups editor.
Channel groups can have a user defined name and can group together any user defined
channels selected from an existing Fixtures list.
Chaser
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A chaser function is built up from multiple scenes that are run in sequence, one after the other,
when the chaser function is started. The next function is run only after the previous has finished.
Any number of functions can be inserted to a chaser.
The Chaser function's direction can be reversed. The Chaser function can also be set to do an
infinite loop, an infinite ping-pong-loop (direction is reversed after each pass) or it can run
through just once, in a single-shot mode, after which it terminates by itself. If the function is set to
loop infinitely, it must be stopped manually.
As of version 3.3.0, each chaser has its own speed settings:
Fade In: The fade in speed of a step
Hold: The hold time of a step
Fade Out: The fade out speed of a step
Duration: The duration of a step
Copies of chaser functions can be created with the Function Manager. The scenes inside a
chaser are not duplicated when a chaser is copied. Only the order and direction are copied to the
new one.
Click And Go
Click And Go is a technology that allows the user to quickly access macros and colors in a
completely visual way and with just a couple of clicks. This can lead to more efficient live shows
and more freedom to choose the desired result very easily.
So far, three types of widgets are available:
Single Color (applies to: Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Amber and White
intensity channels)
RGB Color Picker. Controls values for selected RGB channels with a single click
Gobo/Macro Picker. Access and display a Gobo/Macro defined in the Fixture definition
An overview with screenshots is available here
Collection
A collection function encapsulates multiple functions that are run simultaneously when the
collection function is executed. Any number of functions can be inserted to a collection, but each
function can be inserted only once and a collection cannot be a direct member of itself.
Collections have no speed settings. The speed of each member function is set individually using
their own editors.
Copies of collection functions can be created with the Function Manager. The functions
contained in a collection are not duplicated; only the list of functions is copied.
DMX
DMX is short for Digital MultipleX. It basically defines a whole bunch of properties, protocol,
wiring etc. In the case of lighting software, it defines the maximum number of channels (512) per
universe and the value range of each channel (0-255).
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QLC+ supports 4 individual universes. They do not necessarily need to be connected to DMX
hardware; rather, DMX has just been selected as the de facto lighting standard. Actual hardware
abstraction (whether it's analogue 0-10V, DMX or some other method) is achieved through output
plugins.
EFX
An EFX function is mainly used to automate moving lights (e.g. scanners & moving heads). The
EFX can create complex mathematical paths on an X-Y plane that are converted to DMX values
for the fixture's pan and tilt channels. Only fixtures that contain valid pan & tilt channels can
take part in an EFX function.
Fixtures
A fixture is essentially one lighting device. It can be, for example, one moving head, one scanner,
one laser etc.. However, for simplicity, individual PAR cans (and the like) that are usually
controlled thru one dimmer channel per can, can be grouped together to form one single fixture.
With the Fixture Definition Editor, users can edit shared fixture information stored in a fixture
library that contains the following properties for each fixture:
Manufacturer (e.g. Martin)
Model (e.g. MAC250)
Type (Color Changer, Scanner, Moving Head, Smoke, Haze, Fan...)
Physical properties (bulb type, beam angle, dimensions...)
Channels:
Channel group (Intensity, Pan, Tilt, Gobo, Color, Speed etc.)
8bit and 16bit channel bindings for pan & tilt groups
Optional primary color for intensity channels (RGB/CMY)
Value ranges for channel features (e.g. 0-5:Lamp on, 6-15:Strobe etc..)
These fixture definitions can then be used to create actual fixtures in the Q Light Controller Plus
application, that will have additional properties defined by users:
DMX Universe
DMX Address
Name
Several instances of a fixture can be created (e.g. users must be able to have several instances
of a MAC250 in use). Each fixture can be named, but the name is not used internally by QLC+ to
identify individual fixture instances. The same goes for the DMX address. Nevertheless users are
encouraged to name their fixtures in some systematic way to help identify each of them -- if
necessary.
Generic dimmer devices don't need their own fixture definitions, because usually multiple
dimmers are patched into a common address space, employing one or more dimmer racks.
Users can create instances of these generic dimmer entities just by defining the number of
channels each one of them should have.
Fixture Group
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A fixture group is, as the name says, a group of fixtures. They also define (at a rather basic level)
the actual physical, real world arrangement of these fixtures. This knowledge can be used, for
example, in the RGB Matrix to produce a wall of RGB-mixable lights that can act as individual
pixels in a graphic pattern or scrolling text.
Fixture Mode
Many manufacturers design their intelligent lights in such a way that they can be configured to
understand different sets of channels. For example, a scanner might have two configuration
options: one for only 8bit movement channels (1x pan, 1x tilt) and another one for 16bit
movement channels (2x pan, 2x tilt). Instead of creating a completely new fixture definition for
each variation, they have been bundled together in QLC+'s fixture definitions into fixture modes.
Functions
The number of functions is practically unlimited. Functions are used to automate the setting of
values to DMX channels. Each function type has its own way of automating lights.
The function types are:
Scene
Chaser
Sequence
EFX
RGB Matrix
Collection
Show
Audio
Each function can be named and, although the name is not used to uniquely identify individual
functions, users are encouraged to name their functions in some systematic and concise way to
help identify each of them. For your own comfort.
As of version 3.3.0, each function has its own speed settings:
Fade In: The time used to fade HTP (in Scenes also LTP) channels to their target value
Fade Out: The time used to fade HTP/intensity channels back to zero
Duration: The duration of the current step (not applicable on Scenes)
Grand Master
The Grand Master is used as the final master slider before values are written to the actual
physical DMX hardware. Usually, the Grand Master affects only Intensity channels, but can also
be changed to effect the values of all channels.
The Grand Master has also two Value Modes that control the way how the Grand Master affects
channel values:
Reduce: Affected channels' values are reduced by a percentage set with the Grand Master
slider. For example, Grand Master at 50% will result in all affected channels being reduced
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to 50% of their current values.
Limit: Affected channels cannot get larger values than the value set with the Grand Master
slider. For example, Grand Master at 127 will result in all the affected channels' maximum
values being limited at exactly 127.
Head
A head represents an individual light output device in a fixture. Usually, a single fixture contains
exactly one output, like the lens, the bulb, or a set of LEDs. There is, however, an increasing
number of fixtures on the market that, although treated as a single fixture, have multiple light
output devices, i.e. heads.
For example, you might have a RGB LED bar fixture that is assembled onto a single chassis and
as such it appears as a single fixture with one DMX input and one DMX output. However, it is
actually comprised of four separate RGB LED "fixtures". These separate fixtures are treated in
QLC+ as heads; they share some properties with their sibling heads, they can be controlled
individually, but they might also have a master intensity control that controls the light output of all
the heads together.
Each head belongs to a Fixture Mode because in one mode, a fixture might provide enough
channels to control each of its heads individually while in another mode, only a handful of
channels might be provided for controlling all the heads simultaneously.
HTP (Highest Takes Precedence)
HTP is a rule that decides what level is sent to out to a DMX universe by a channel when the
channel is being controlled by more than one function or Virtual Console widget. Generally,
intensity channels obey the HTP rule. This includes generic intensity channels used to control
light intensity with dimmers and also channels controlling the intensity of a color, typically in an
LED fixture.
The HTP rule is simple: the highest level (nearer 100%) that is currently being sent to a channel
is the one that gets sent out to the DMX universe.
Let's say you have two sliders that control the same intensity channel. First, you set slider 1 to
50% and then move slider 2 from 0% to 75%. As long as slider 2 is below 50% nothing happens,
but after crossing the 50% level set by slider 1, the light intensity increases up to 75%. If you drag
slider 2 again towards 0%, the light intensity decreases until it reaches the 50% set by slider 1
and stays at 50% until slider 1 is dragged down.
A crossfade between 2 Scenes will replace the HTP levels in the first scene with the HTP levels
of the second. The new HTP levels will be combined with HTP levels from other functions and
virtual console widgets as above. See also LTP.
Input/Output plugins
QLC+ supports a variety of plugins to send and receive data from/to the external world.
A plugin can be an interface to physical devices (such as DMX adapters or MIDI controllers) or to
a network protocol (such as ArtNet, OSC or E1.31).
Plugins support input, output or feedback capabilities depending on the device or the protocol
they're controlling.
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The primary input methods for QLC+ are naturally the keyboard and mouse. Users can assign
keyboard keys to virtual console buttons and drag sliders and do pretty much everything with a
mouse.
Although, with plugins it is possible to attach additional input devices to one's computer to
alleviate the rather clumsy and slow user experience that is achieved with a regular mouse and a
keyboard. Plugins supporting an input line provide capabilities for getting external devices to
produce input data to various QLC+ elements.
An input line is a connection provided by some hardware or network which is accessed through
an input plugin. It can be, for example, a MIDI IN connector in the user's computer (or peripheral)
to which users can connect MIDI-capable input devices like slider boards etc.
An output line is a connection provided by a hardware or network which is accessed through an
output plugin. In other words, it is a real DMX universe, but has been dubbed output to separate it
from QLC+'s internal universes. You could think of them as individual XLR output connectors in
your DMX hardware.
Input profiles
Input profiles can be thought of as fixtures' cousins; they contain information on specific devices
that produce input data. An input device can be, for example, a slider board like the Behringer
BCF-2000, Korg nanoKONTROL, an Enttec Playback Wing...
LTP (Latest Takes Precedence)
LTP is a rule that decides what level is sent to out to a DMX universe by a channel when the
channel is being controlled by more than one function or Virtual Console widget. Generally, it is
used for channels that have been assigned to groups other than the Intensity group, such as
pan, tilt, gobo, strobe speed and other intelligent fixture parameters
The LTP rule is simple: the latest level that has been set by a function or a Virtual Console
widget gets sent out to the DMX universe.
During a crossfade between Scenes, LTP levels will often be changed. This has to be handled
with some care as some LTP levels need to jump immediately to a new level, for example,
changing from one gobo to another. LTP groups such as pan and tilt, however, might need to
change gradually from one level to another during a crossfade. Different timings can be achieved
by combining scenes in a Collection. See also HTP.
Modes
Q Light Controller Plus is based on the common concept of having two distinct operational
modes to prevent accidental and possibly harmful changes during operation:
Design mode is meant to edit the behaviour of the program; create and edit functions and
fixtures and adjust how they work.
Operate mode is meant to execute the created functions that eventually control the user's
lighting fixtures.
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RGB Matrix
An RGB matrix function can be used to impose simple graphics and text on a matrix (a grid or a
wall) of RGB and/or monochrome fixture heads. The RGB matrix function has been designed to
be extendable with scripts that can be written by users.
Each RGB matrix has its own speed settings:
Fade In: Time to fade each pixel ON
Fade Out: Time to fade each pixel OFF
Duration: The duration of the current step/frame
RGB Script
An RGB script (not to be confused with the ) is a program written in ECMAScript (also known as
JavaScript) that produces the necessary image data for RGB Matrix functions. Learn more from
the RGB Script API page.
Scene
A scene function comprises the values of selected channels that are contained in one or more
fixture instances. When a scene is started, the time it takes for its channels to reach their target
values depends on the scene's speed settings:
Each function has its own speed settings:
Fade In: The time used to fade all channels to their target values, from whatever value they
had
Fade Out: The time used to fade HTP/intensity channels back to zero. Note that ONLY HTP
channels are affected by this setting.
Copies of scene functions can be created with the Function Manager. All of the scene's contents
are copied to the duplicate.
Sequence
A Sequence has some of the functionality of a Chaser.
It is equivalent to a Chaser in which each step is a single Scene and every one of those Scenes
controls the same set of channels. A Sequence is bound to one specific Scene, which means
that all the steps of the Sequence can only control the enabled channels of that Scene.
When creating new steps in a Sequence, no Function selection pop-up will appear, since a
Sequence step cannot include other Functions, unlike a Chaser step.
When a Sequence is created, a special sequence icon will appear in the Function Manager as a
child of the Scene to which it is bound.
To understand the difference between a Sequence and a Chaser, you are invited to read the
second paragraph of the Show Manager documentation.
Script
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The Script function works on a simple yet powerful scripting language to automate QLC+
functionalities in a sequential order. A Script can be modified with the Script Editor.
Show
A Show is an advanced function which encapsulates most of the QLC+ Functions to create a
time driven light show. A Show can be created only with the Show Manager and can be
inspected and renamed with the Show Editor.
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Questions & Answers
In this page you will find the common questions that may come to mind when starting with QLC+.
Here you can either find the answer directly or find help to point you in the right direction.
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q:
QLC+ cannot detect my USB device
QLC+ supports a wide variety of USB devices. First of all you should check if the
physical connection is OK. Usually a LED on your device should indicate if it is
powered up and working correctly.
If you are using Windows and your device is manufactured by Peperoni or Velleman,
please read the information on how to get them working on these help pages. For
licensing issues they both need an extra DLL file to work. Please check Peperoni output
plugin or Velleman output plugin
If you're using Linux, please check if your distribution detected the device when plugged
in. Basically, the "dmesg" command should tell you something.
I've got several buttons in my Virtual Console. I need a way to disable the currently
active button when I enable another one. How do I do that ?
Simply place your buttons inside a Solo Frame. It does exactly that.
When I start an EFX function, all my fixtures go to full intensity and I can't make them
dimmer.
Please, read this note.
I just upgraded my Mac to OSX Mavericks (or later) and my USB DMX adapter doesn't
work anymore.
The problem is in a new Apple USB driver. The procedure to disable it follows below.
Please note that this can compromise the behaviour of other USB devices, so do
it only if you know what you're doing!
From a terminal type the following commands:
A:
cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns
sudo mv AppleUSBFTDI.kext AppleUSBFTDI.disabled
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions
Otherwise you can download the ENTTEC FTDI tool to enable/disable the Apple driver.
Please note that every time OSX receives an update, you need to perform this
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procedure again !
Q:
A:
Where is the QLC+ user folder located in my system ?
The user folder is where user fixtures, input profiles, RGB scripts and MIDI templates go.
It changes depending on your operating system:
Linux: it is a hidden folder in your user home directory: $HOME/.qlcplus
Windows: it is a folder in your user (e.g. MyUser) directory: C:\Users\MyUser\QLC+
OSX: it is located in your user "Library" directory: $HOME/Library/Application\
Support/QLC+
You can reach any of these folders from a terminal with the 'cd' command. For example:
cd $HOME/Library/Application\ Support/QLC+
Please keep in mind that fixures and input profiles found in the user folder will have
precedence over the same files in the QLC+ system folder.
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Main Window
The QLC+ Main Window consists of three main parts:
1. A Menu bar containing buttons for global functions
2. Active panels selected by their respective tabs
3. Tabs that allow the selection of one of the QLC+ panels
Most of the controls throughout the software have tooltips, which pop up after holding your mouse
cursor over them for a short while.
Menu bar (1)
The menu bar on the top of the workspace window contains the following buttons (from left to
right):
New workspace
Open an existing workspace (hold the button longer for a list of recent files)
Save the current workspace
Save the current workspace with a new name
DMX Monitor
DMX Address tool
Audio triggers
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Toggle full screen mode
View this documentation
View information about QLC+
DMX Dump
Live Edit: allows you to modify a function while QLC+ is in Operate Mode
Live Edit Virtual Console: allows you to modify the Virtual Console while QLC+ is in
Operate Mode. Click to Toggle
Stop All Functions
Toggle Blackout
Switch between Design Mode and Operate Mode
Active Panel (2)
Everything happens here. Which panel is active depends on which tab is currently selected.
Panel Tabs (3)
At the bottom of main window you can find easy eye catching icons for switching between QLC+
panels that appear as follows (from left to right):
View the Fixture Manager
View the Function Manager
View the Show Manager
View the Virtual Console
View the Simple Desk
View the Input/Output configuration manager
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DMX Monitor
The DMX Monitor is a useful tool to track the values that are being sent to the output universes.
Only the information related to the required fixtures are displayed. The monitor's display options
have no effect on actual fixture addressing, after all, it is just a monitor.
The DMX monitor has two display modes: DMX view and 2D view.
DMX view
The DMX view shows the all the fixtures of the project, representing each channel with numbers
and icons. It basically represents each channel in 3 rows:
The channel group icon
The channel number
The channel value
Toolbar controls
2D View
By clicking on this button, it is possible to switch to the 2D view mode.
Change the monitor font. To prevent the numbers from flickering and jumping,
you should choose a proportional (i.e. fixed width) font; for example Monaco,
Andale or Courier. The font property is global, meaning it will not be saved into
your current project, but it will be stored in the QLC+ main configuration.
DMX
Channels
Display fixtures' channel numbers as absolute DMX channels; channel numbers
go from 1 to 512 as they are assigned to each fixture.
Relative
Channels
Display fixtures' channel numbers relative to fixtures i.e. every fixture's channel
numbers always start from 1.
DMX
Values
Display channel values as absolute DMX values (0-255).
Percent
Values
Display channel values as percentages of 255 (0-100%).
Universe
Select which universe to monitor. The first entry is always "All universes"
2D view
The monitor 2D view is another way to represent the fixtures of your project that, instead of
numbers, uses a graphical preview trying to represent as much as possible the real result of a
light-emitting device.
Currently, monitor reflects:
Master Dimmer
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R/G/B
C/M/Y
Color wheels, if they contain RGB color value. Two-color values are not supported
Shutter, which is open, unless the capability name contains "close" or "blackout" (example:
"Shutter Close")
In 2D view mode it is possible to select which fixtures to display and their position in a grid
representing the dimensions of a real stage.
The grid would like to reproduce the front view of a stage, but you can use it as a generic space
as you might like.
Graphical items can be manually moved by dragging them over the grid, or, when clicked, they
can be configured with the Monitor Fixture Editor panel that will be displayed on the right side of
the window.
Toolbar controls
DMX View
By clicking on this button, it is possible to switch to the DMX view mode.
Grid
dimensions
Set the width and the height of the 2D view grid by changing the values
displayed in the two spin boxes
Grid units
Set the 2D view grid measurement units by selecting the desired one from the
drop down menu. Possible options are meters and feet.
Add a fixture to the 2D view grid. When clicking on this icon, the fixture
selection dialog will be displayed. Fixtures already added to the view will be
greyed as it isn't possible to add the same fixture twice
Remove a fixture from the 2D view grid. Clicking on this icon will remove the
currently selected fixture. A fixture is highlighted in yellow when selected.
Open the Monitor background picture selection dialog.
Here it is possible to choose between 3 possible modes:
No background: the Monitor 2D view won't have any background picture
Common background: the Monitor 2D view will display the chosen
background picture
Custom background list: in this mode it is possible to select a
background picture for a specific QLC+ Function. Just click on the
and
buttons to add/remove Functions and their associated
background picture to the Monitor. When a Function in this list will start
the Monitor 2D view background picture will change accordingly.
Show/hide fixtures' names underneath their graphical representation
Fixture Item Editor
When a fixture is clicked, it gets highlighted in yellow and the Monitor Fixture Item Editor is
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displayed on the right side of the window.
Following, the possible parameters that it is possible to tune:
Horizontal
position
Set the position on the grid X axis using the grid measurement units
Vertical
position
Set the position on the grid Y axis using the grid measurement units
Rotation
Set the rotation angle of the graphical item representing the selected fixture
Color gel
Set the color gel to be applied to the currently selected fixture item. This is useful
for generic dimmers with a traditional light bulb, not emitting any color by itself.
This function has no effect on RGB LED fixtures.
Reset a previously set color gel
Pan/Tilt display
PAN/TILT display is schematically displayed using colored rings/arcs around fixture. Purple arc
shows PAN angle, and Turquoise arc shows TILT angle. Gray dots show PAN/TILT ranges. Zero
(middle of the range) is at the bottom.
In the folowing picture PAN range is 660 degrees and tilt range is 300 degrees. Pan is at counterclockwise end (-330 deg) and tilt is at -150 deg.
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DMX Address Tool
The DMX address tool is a quite easy/self explanatory functionality of QLC+ introduced in
version 4.3.2.
It helps you to calculate your fixtures addresses quickly in a visual way.
A representation of a common 10way DIP switch is displayed and you can select the background
color, the horizontal and vertical orientation, so that the DIP switch is displayed exactly as you
would see it on your fixture.
Note particularly the following, which applies to the 10th switch. Usually, it is used to
enable/disable the DMX feature of a fixture, so if your product manual says it has to be raised to
enable the DMX control, then remember to do it even if QLC+ displays it set to OFF.
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DMX Dump
The DMX Dump functionality allows you to save the current DMX values that are being sent to
the output universes at a particular moment. Basically it takes a "snapshot" of DMX channels and
saves them for a later use.
DMX Dump can save values to a new Scene and also add the newly created Scene into an
existing Chaser, Virtual Console button or slider
Please note that:
Selected Channels/Chasers will be remembered when re-opening this window
The DMX values saved are taken before the Grand Master
When opening the DMX Dump window, the following options will appear:
Scene
name
Defines the name of the Scene that will be created. If no name is specified, a
default name like "New Scene From Live" and a numeric identification will be set,
allowing fast use of this functionality.
Dump all
channels
If this option is selected, QLC+ will dump all the channels of all the universes and
all the fixtures. To inform the user about what this option will do, a report in the
form of (Universes, Fixtures, Channels) will be displayed.
Dump
selected
channels
If this option is selected, the panel below will be activated, allowing you to choose
exactly which channels that you want to be saved into a Scene. They are
organized in a tree by Universes and Fixtures.
This section offers you immediate use of your scene in an existing Virtual
Console widget.
Options are:
Chaser: The list contains all the chasers present when DMX Dump window
is opened. Each Chaser has a checkbox that, if checked, will tell QLC+ to
add the newly created Scene to the selected chasers.
This feature is very useful when using Cue Lists in the Virtual Console
panel, because the newly created Scene will appear in the Cue List for
immediate use during a live performance.
Add to
Button: The list contains all the buttons currently present in your Virtual
Console space.
When selected, the buttons will be set to activate/deactivate the Scene just
captured. You will see the button label chaning to "Scene from live ..." and a
progress number to identify it.
Note: Any previous function associated to the selected buttons will be
overwritten !
Slider: The list contains all the sliders currently present in your Virtual
Console space.
As with buttons, all the selected sliders will be set to control the Scene just
captured.
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Note 1: A slider must be in playback mode to work as an intensity
controller for a Scene.
Note 2: Any previous function associated with the selected sliders will be
overwritten !
Dump
only
non-zero
values
This option will tell QLC+ to save only the channels with values that are not equal
to zero.
If you know what you're doing, this could save project space and avoid channels
conflicts with other Virtual Console widgets.
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Live Edit
Starting from version 4.5.0, QLC+ offers a functionality which allows the adjustment of your
Functions while in Operate Mode.
The Live Edit icon
is located in the QLC+ top bar, beside the DMX Dump icon
and it is
activated only when the user has switched to Operate Mode.
When clicking on the Live Edit icon, a Function selection panel will be displayed, allowing the
selection of the function you want to adjust.
When you press OK, the correct editor will be displayed for editing that function.
At the moment, the following functions are supported for live editing:
Scene will open a Scene Editor
Note that by default the editor will be set in "Blind mode" when you edit a Scene that is not
currently running, in case you want to make the changes effective only when the Scene is
being replayed the next time it is selected. For a currently running Scene the editor will
open in live mode by default.
Chaser will open a Chaser Editor
EFX will open an EFX Editor
RGB Matrix will open an RGB Matrix Editor
The types of functions listed in the Function selection can be selected by using the filter
check boxes at the bottom of the panel.
There is an option at the top of the panel to list currently running functions only.
Note that if another function is running when performing a live edit, HTP channels in the
other function may prevent some adjustments from being seen on the stage.
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Fixture Manager
The fixture manager is the heart of QLC+'s fixture-oriented architecture. As its name already says,
you can manage (add, remove and edit) your lighting fixtures from the fixture manager. On the left
side of the manager there is a list that displays all of the fixtures in the current workspace. When
a fixture is selected, the right side of the window displays the details of the selected fixture. When
a Fixture Group is selected, the right side of the window is occupied by the Fixture Group Editor.
Controls
Add new Fixture(s) to the workspace with the Add/Edit Fixture dialog.
Add a RGB panel to the workspacewith with the Add RGB Panel dialog.
Remove the selected fixtures from the workspace. This also removes the fixtures from
ALL groups they have been assigned to.
Edit the currently selected fixture's properties with the Add/Edit Fixture dialog.
Opens the Channel Properties Configuration window.
Assign the selected fixtures to a Fixture Group displayed in a popup menu. If you have
no groups defined yet, you can choose to create a new one from the menu that opens
when this button is clicked.
Resign (remove) the selected fixtures from the group they are currently in. Note that
removing fixtures from a group will NOT destroy the fixtures completely. Also, removal
from one group will not affect the fixtures' memberships to other groups.
Move the selected Channel Group up
Move the selected Channel Group down
Imports a fixture list file (.qxfl) into QLC+. Please note that fixture addresses conflicts
are not handled, so it is suggested to use this functionality on an empty project.
Exports the list of fixtures currently available on a QLC+ project into a file with
extension .qxfl. This file can be used afterward with the import functionality.
Opens the Fixtures remapping window.
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Add/Edit Fixtures
The same dialog (with slight differences) is used for both adding new and editing the properties
of existing Fixtures.
NOTE: When editing an existing fixture, you can always choose a completely different fixture
type to replace the previous one, but if their channels don't match each other exactly, any Scene
functions you may have created, will very probably do things that you don't want. Also, if the
channel counts don't match, you might end up having fixtures with overlapping channels, which
results also to unwanted behaviour. RGB Matrix, EFX, Chaser and Collection functions remain
unaffected since they don't directly address specific channels, but are more dynamic in nature.
Controls
Fixture
Model list
Fixture
Properties
Shows you a list of available fixture definitions and their general types. If you
don't see your favourite fixture definition on the list, you can create one yourself
with the accompanying, easy to use QLC+ Fixture Editor. Since QLC+ is
completely free software, please consider sharing the definition files with the
community at http://www.qlcplus.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3
Name: The friendly name you wish to assign to the fixture
Mode: The mode you have configured to the fixture
Universe: The DMX universe where the newly-added fixture(s) are
connected to
Address: The address of the (first) fixture you are adding. If you are adding
multiple fixtures, each consecutive fixture will be assigned an address
immediately after the previous fixture's channels, unless address gap (see
below) is non-zero.
Channels: If you have selected the Generic dimmer device, you can define
its channel count to this field. Otherwise this field is read-only and it just
tells you how many channels the currently selected fixture needs in its
currently selected mode.
Channel list: This field displays a more detailed list of individual channels
for the currently selected fixture and its mode. For Generic dimmers, this
field remains empty since all dimmer channels are treated as dummy
intensity channels.
You can also add more than one fixture at the same time if your setup consists of
multiple fixtures that are of the same make & model. These features are disabled
when you are editing an existing fixture.
Multiple
Fixtures
Amount: Number of new fixtures to create. Each newly-added fixture
includes also a number after its assigned name when adding more than
one fixture at a time.
Address gap: Leave this many empty channels between each new fixture
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Add RGB Panel
On the market you can easily find LED strips that you can wire as you prefer to create a RGB
Panel (or matrix). This dialog allows you to quickly create and setup a RGB Panel. It is a
dedicated dialog to help you with the most annoying process of creating fixtures manually
depending on the desiderd layout.
Please note that once the panel is created, the only way to modify the layout is manually.
Panel creation
When clicking OK on this dialog two things will happen:
QLC+ will create a fixture for each row of the panel. They can be considered like if the
panel is composed by individual RGB bars.
QLC+ will create a fixture group representing the panel with heads already in the right
displacement
Once a RGB panel is created, it is straight forward to go to the Function Manager, create a new
RGB Matrix and start using the panel very quickly.
Let's have a look at every option in this panel:
Panel Properties
Name
An arbitrary string that can be used to name the RGB panel
Universe
The universe where the RGB Panel is going to start. If the panel requires a
number of channels that don't fit in a single universe, it will span across multiple
universes, starting from the one selected with this option.
Address
The DMX start address where the RGB Panel has to be mapped
Size
Columns
The RGB Panel number of columns (or the number of pixels per row)
Rows
The RGB Panel number of rows (or the number of pixels per column)
Physical
Width
The physical width in millimeters of the RGB Panel
Height
The physical height in millimeters of the RGB Panel
Orientation
Top-Left
The first pixel will be located on the top-left corner of the panel
TopRight
The first pixel will be located on the top-right corner of the panel
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BottomLeft
The first pixel will be located on the bottom-left corner of the panel
BottomRight
The first pixel will be located on the bottom-right corner of the panel
Displacement
Snake
The panel displacement follows a "snake" logic. It means the next pixel of the end
of a row is on the same column of the next row. Then the other pixels follow in the
opposite direction.
Zig-Zag
The panel displacement follows a "zig-zag" logic. It means the next pixel of the
end of a row is on the first column of the next row.
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Fixture Group Editor
The Fixture Group Editor is used when you select a Fixture Group in the Fixture Manager. This
editor can be used to describe the physical arrangement of the fixtures and their heads that are
assigned to the group.
Controls
Each Fixture Group has a name (for your convenience) and the fixture configuration in an
unlimited [X,Y] grid. You can adjust the size of the grid as well as the placement of individual
fixture heads on the grid.
Fixture
Group
Name
Change the name of the group.
Add fixture heads to the currently selected row, filling each subsequent column on
that row with the selected fixture heads. You can select individual fixture heads or
complete fixtures to be added on the selected row.
Add fixture heads to the currently selected column, filling each subsequent row on
that column with the selected fixture heads. You can select individual fixture heads
or complete fixtures to be added on the selected column.
Remove the selected fixture head from the grid (and the group).
The fixture grid displays the current fixture/head arrangement in the selected group.
You can switch places between two heads as well as fill up spaces or create empty
spaces between heads simply by dragging the heads on top of each other in the
grid.
Fixture
grid
When using fixture groups in RGB Matrices, each cell in the grid represents one
colored (or monochrome) pixel in a graphic scene rendered by the RGB Matrix.
Each cell is displayed with an info text that contains the following information:
The name of the fixture as well as an icon
H: represents the head number
A: represents the fixture's address
U: represents the fixture's universe
Width
Adjusts the grid width (number of columns on the X-axis).
Height
Adjusts the grid height (number of rows on the Y-axis).
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Channel Groups Editor
The Channel Groups editor it activated by clicking on the "Channels Groups" tab in the Fixture
Manager panel.
With this functionality (introduced in QLC+ version 4.0.0), it is possible to create groups of
channels with the same functionality.
For example, if you have 20 PARs you might want to control the RED channel of all of them with
a single fader.
Controls
Add a new channels group to the workspace with the Add/Edit Channels Group dialog.
Remove the selected channels group from the workspace.
Edit an existing channels group in the workspace with the Add/Edit Channels Group
dialog.
Move the selected group up in the list to change the logical order.
Move the selected group down in the list to change the logical order.
Add/Edit Channels Group
Group Name
Set/change name of the channels group
Channels list
Check channels that should be included in this channels group. Uncheck
those that should not.
Apply changes
to all fixtures of
the same type
When checked, clicking on a channel will select/deselect the same channel
on all fixtures of the same type. Use it when you want to select e.g. all Red
channels of all fixture of a particular LED PAR model
External input
Select external input for this channels group for easier control in Function
Manager. External input for channels groups will not work elsewhere.
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Channel Properties Configuration
This window displays a tree with items nested in a Universes/Fixtures/Channels structure.
On the right side of each fixture's channel are displayed the available options that can be set to
modify the behaviour of each single channel.
Channels properties
Can fade
Determine if a channel is included or excluded in the QLC+ fade transitions.
By default all the channels are affected by the Fade In and Fade Out timings of
the QLC+ functions.
When this property is unchecked, a channel will not fade, meaning that a fade
transition from 20 to 200, will set the channel immediately to 200.
This is useful for example for Pan/Tilt channels of moving heads, where you
want the motors to avoid fading but immediately go to the final value.
Behaviour
Force the channel behaviour according to the HTP and LTP rules. When
changing the behaviour of a channel, the dropdown list will highlight in red,
showing evidence that the channels has been modified.
Note: Use this functionality only if you know what you're doing and fully
understand how HTP and LTP work
Modifier
Channels modifiers are a powerful tool to modify the behaviour of a channel by
acting at the end of the DMX value calculation, right before the Grand Master
modification.
By default all the channels will follow a linear rule, meaning that the original
DMX value will be equal to the output DMX value. (0-0, 1-1, ... , 255-255)
When clicking on this button, the Channel Modfier Editor panel (described
below) will be displayed.
When dealing with a lot of fixtures of the same type, you might want to check the "Apply changes
to fixtures of the same type" check box.
This means that changing a channel property will affect all the channels of the same type and
fixture in the list.
This can save you quite a lot of time when setting up your projects for the first time.
Channel Modfier Editor
The channel modifier editor is presented like this:
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On the right side of the window, a list of available modifier templates is displayed.
Clicking on a template in the list, will show the curve preview on the left side of the window.
A modifier curve is composed by a number of lines representing how a DMX channel should be
modified when its value changes.
Each line starts and ends with a so called "handler". A modifier can have a virtually infinite
number of handlers, but there must be always one handler on the DMX value 0 and one handler
on the DMX value 255 to cover all the DMX values range.
Basically the X coordinate of the preview represents the original DMX value and the Y coordinate
represents the modified DMX value.
When clicking on a handler this gets clearer as the fields above the curve preview are filled with
the said values.
Handlers can be simply moved with the mouse by dragging them around or by manually
changing the values of the original or modified DMX values.
QLC+ delivers a few templates that might cover the most common cases.
For example the "Invert" template can invert a Pan/Tilt channel where a product doesn't have this
feature by factory default.
The "Logarithmic" template can improve the fade transitions of LED-based fixtures, trying to bring
them back to a more linear effect.
To create a new template just select an existing template, give it a new name and add/remove
handlers as needed with the
and
buttons.
When done, just click the
button and your template will be saved in your user templates
folder. Please refer to the Questions and Answers page to locate this folder.
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Fixtures remapping
Starting from version 4.4.1, QLC+ offers a functionality called fixtures remapping.
When performing live shows in different venues, you may only be able to find out at the last
minute which fixtures are installed there. Well, fixtures remapping helps you to use your existing
projects in this and many other situations, such as when you need to replace a faulty fixture or
when you want to use hired in equipment alongside your own.
For example, you can set up a project with just one PAR, one moving head and one scanner.
When reaching the venue where the show is going to take place, you can remap your fixtures to
those you find there, for example 50 PARs, 30 moving heads and 15 scanners.
With QLC+, it takes just a few minutes to do this operation !
Fixtures remapping allows you to perform 1-to-1 or 1-to-many reassignments of entire fixtures or
single channels. QLC+ will try as far as possible to reassign the original channels used in the
project to new channels in the same category.
When you confirm the remapping operation, a new project will be automatically saved to
preserve your original project.
All the fixtures, scenes, EFX, Virtual Console widgets and audio triggers found in the original
project will be remapped so that they work on the new fixtures list.
Remapping window
Let's now explain how to use the fixture remapping window, starting from a screenshot of a
complete example:
And now, here is a detailed explanation of each element of the remapping window.
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Source
fixtures
On the left side of the window, there is a tree representing the universes,
fixtures and channels used in your project. This list cannot be changed in this
window.
Remapped
fixtures
On the right side of the window, there is a tree representing the universes,
fixtures and channels where you are going to remap your source fixtures.
Add one or more fixtures to the Remapped fixtures list. Clicking this button will
open the Add/Edit Fixtures window. Please note that once a fixture is added, it
cannot be modified, so if you need specific names or quantity, remember to do
it before adding the new fixtures
Remove the selected Fixture from the remapped fixtures list.
This is probably the most important button in the window. It allows you to
determine the connection between a source ficture and a remapped fixture. The
connections can be performed either between single channels or on whole
fixtures.
In the first case you will need to select the source channel from the source
fixtures list and a target channel from the remapped fixtures list.
In the second case you will need to select a fixture from the source fixtures list
and a target fixture from the remapped fixtures list.
Wrong selections will cause an error message to popup. For example you
cannot remap a channel to a fixture and vice-versa.
If the connection is valid, it will be represented as a line in the white area
between the source list and the remapped list.
Remove a previously created remapping connection. Wrong selections will
cause an error popup.
Remap
fixtures
names
If this is checked, a new remapping connection between fixtures will also set
the target fixture name be the same as the source fixture name.
Destination
project
name
The absolute path and name of the remapped project. For convenience, QLC+
will automatically take the original project name and will add "(remapped)" at
the end of it.
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Adding Fixtures
Fixture Manager
Open the fixture manager by clicking its
button on the main toolbar. Alternatively you
can select Fixtures from the Manager menu.
The fixture manager is the heart of QLC+ fixture-oriented architecture. As its name already says,
you can manage (add, remove and edit) your lighting fixtures from the fixture manager. On the left
side of the manager there is a list that contains all of the fixtures in the current workspace
(currently it's empty). On the right side you can see some common information related to the
currently selected fixture. On top of the fixture manager there is again another toolbar, containing
the following buttons (from left to right):
Add new fixtures
Remove selected fixtures
Configure the selected fixture
Group a fixture selection
Ungroup a fixture from a group
Import a previously saved list of fixtures
Export a list of fixtures
Adding a fixture
Add a fixture to the workspace by clicking the
add button.
On the left side of the dialog you can see a list of available fixture manufacturers. Each
manufacturer item is actually a folder containing a number of fixture models produced by the
manufacturer. You can find for example a "DJScan250" under the "Futurelight" folder. As you
click a fixture from the list, you can see the Channels field on the right side change to display the
number of DMX channels required by the selected fixture. There's also a list of the fixture's
channels just under the Channels box.
You can edit the new fixture's name in the Name field or you can stick to the default that the
application suggests. If the fixture has different operational modes (different sets of channels),
you can select one from the Mode box. The fixture's DMX address can be set in the Address field
and should be the same as the actual physical fixture's DMX address. The Universe field is used
to assign the fixture to a physical DMX output universe. Usually each universe has its own cable
coming from the computer.
If you wish to add multiple fixtures of the same type, you can increase the value in the Amount
box. If you wish to leave some gap between each fixture's address space, you can change the
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value in the Address gap box.
If you don't understand the DMX addressing principles, please consult your lighting equipment
manuals for more information. In short, a DMX address is the first DMX channel of one fixture. In
the case of a DJScan250 (which uses 6 channels), assigning for example 1 as its DMX address,
reserves channels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 to the fixture. The next fixture must then be assigned to
DMX address 7 to prevent channel overlapping.
Adding a generic dimmer
Dimmers are a bit special devices, since all they can usually do is just adjust the intensities of
their channels (that usually drive PAR cans and the like). If you wish to add such a device, select
the Generic dimmer fixture from the list and specify the number of channels you wish the device
to employ into the Channels box. Note that you cannot adjust the mode for dimmers and the
channel list stays empty all the time.
Back to the fixture manager
Click OK to close the dialog and add the selected fixture(s) to the workspace.
On the left side of the fixture manager you can now see the fixture(s) that you just added. On the
right side, you can see information on the currently selected fixture. You can edit the fixture's
name, address and universe by clicking the Configure button. You can also change the fixture
definition thru the configuration dialog.
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Function Manager
With the function manager you can manage all of your functions that do the actual work of
automating your lights. You can create new functions, remove and edit existing ones as well as
create copies of them. Controls are on the upper part of the window; the lower part displays all of
your functions as well as the function editor for the currently selected function (if any).
Each function type can be found under its own category: Scene for scenes, EFX for EFX's etc.
When a new function is created or an existing one selected, the appropriate editor is chosen and
displayed on the right hand side of the Function Manager window. Changes made in the editor
pane are stored immediately in the functions themselves and no additional OK clicks are
required.
Controls
Create a new Scene and edit it using the Scene Editor.
Create a new Chaser and edit it using the Chaser Editor.
Create a new Sequence and edit it using the Chaser Editor.
Create a new EFX and edit it using the EFX Editor.
Create a new Collection and edit it using the Collection Editor.
Create a new RGB Matrix and edit it using the RGB Matrix Editor.
Create a new RGB Script and edit it using the RGB Script Editor.
Create a new Audio function to be used in Chasers or Shows.
Create a new folder in the selected category. A folder can be renamed by double
clicking on it.
When a folder is selected, a newly created function will be added to it. To move
existing functions inside a folder, just select and drag them into it. In the same way they
can be moved outside a folder by dragging them onto a category item.
When deleting a folder, all the functions and subfolders contained into it will be deleted
as well.
Note: Empty folders will not be saved into your project.
Open the Function selection dialog to choose a startup function. The selected function
will be started every time QLC+ switches to operate mode. This is very useful when
running QLC+ in kiosk mode (thus using -k or -p flags)
A special entry named "<No function>" is present to remove a previously set startup
function.
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Start the Function Wizard.
Create a copy of each of the selected functions.
Permanently remove the selected function(s).
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Scene Editor
The scene editor, as its name suggests, is used to edit
Scene functions. The editor is
divided into tabs; with the first, General tab, you control the list of fixtures and channel groups that
take part in the scene editing, together with the Scene name.
All subsequent tabs are used to control the individual channel values for each fixture and, if any
are defined, the channels groups values.
General Tab Controls
On the left hand part of the screen, the buttons to control the fixtures used in the scene are
displayed.
Scene name
Change the name of the scene.
Add an existing Fixture to the scene.
Remove the selected Fixture(s) from the scene.
Enable all channels of the selected fixtures.
Disable all channels of the selected fixtures.
On the right hand part of the screen, the buttons to control the channel groups used in the scene
are displayed
Enable all the selected channel groups.
Disable all the selected channel groups.
Hint: It's useful to know that when a channels group is checked/unchecked, the fixtures
controlled by the group will be automatically added to the left panel. The channels controlled by
the group will also be automatically enabled/disabled on each fixture.
Channel Groups Tabs
This tab will be displayed only if one or more channel groups are selected in the General tab.
Each Channel Group will be displayed with a quick macro access button (Click And Go if
supported), a label with the group value, a fader and the name of the group.
Fixture Tabs
Each fixture is represented by its own tab that contains sliders for each of the fixture's channels.
Page 38
Each channel can be enabled or disabled with a check box at the top of the channel unit. The
value of each channel can be set either by typing the value to the edit box at the top of the slider
or by moving the slider. Channels that provide multiple functions such as gobos, colors, etc. also
have a button above the channel slider - this button can be used to directly select a specific
function or capability provided by that channel.
Hint: The keyboard shortcut to move between channels values edit boxes is 'Tab' to move to the
right and 'Shift + Tab' to move to the left.
Channel enabled/disabled status
If a channel has not been enabled, the scene will not touch that particular channel's value, ever.
If a channel has been enabled, the scene will change that channel's value to the value that is
defined in the scene. This is useful, for example, when you wish to control only the dimmer
channel of a scanner fixture - you wouldn't want the scene to touch the scanner's pan, tilt, color or
gobo channels when you just want to fade in or fade out with the dimmer channel.
Controls
Enable all channels from the current fixture. In all channels mode, select channels for
all fixtures.
Disable all channels from the current fixture. In all channels mode, disable channels for
all fixtures.
Go to the previous tab in the view. If the first tab is selected, this will go to the last tab in
the view. Keyboard shortcut: 'ALT+Left'
Go to the next tab in the view. If the last tab is selected, this will go to the first tab in the
view. Keyboard shortcut: 'ALT+Right'
The Copy functionality has 2 modes:
Copy the values (and enabled/disabled states) of all channels in the current
fixture to the clipboard.
Copy only the selected channels (CTRL-clicked, yellow background) values into
the clipboard.
Paste the values from clipboard to the current fixture. If no channels were selected
during 'copy', then all the enabled/disabled states will be pasted along with the channel
values.
The 'Copy all' functionality has 2 modes:
Copy all values (and enabled/disabled states) of all channels to all other fixtures
taking part in the scene.
Copy only the selected channels (CTRL-clicked, yellow background) values to all
the other fixtures taking part in the scene.
Launch a color tool to select a specific color and set that color to the current fixture; This
Page 39
feature is enabled only for fixtures that are capable of CMY/RGB color mixing.
Launch a position tool (similar to XYPad in Virtual console) to select a head/mirror
position for the current fixture; This feature is enabled only for fixtures that have either
pan or tilt channels. All heads of current fixture will be changed to the same value.
Show/Hide the Speed Dial widget, used to adjust the Scene parameters such as Fade
In and Fade Out
Switch between "tab view" and "all channels view". The first mode will display one tab
for each fixture, while the second will display a single tab for all the fixtures
Toggle blind mode for the selected fixture.
Clone the current scene and add a new step to the Chaser selected from the drop down
list beside this button
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Chaser Editor
The chaser editor, as its name suggests, is used to edit
Chaser functions.
A Chaser is composed by steps and each step is represented by
A progressive number
The related function name
Fade in time
Hold time
Fade out time
Step total duration time
A note field in case you need to write something to remember what the step does
The timings steps and the note field can be modified by double clicking on them. By default the
times are taken in seconds (for example 135 means 2m15s), unless you use the same syntax
QLC+ uses (for example 1m12s.80)
Controls
Chaser
name
Change the name of the chaser.
Show/Hide the Speed Dial widget, used to facilitate the Chaser parameters tuning
like Fade In, Fade Out and Hold
Start to run the Chaser to test the playback beginning from the selected step
Stop a previously started playback
When playback is active, go to the previous step in the Chaser
When playback is active, go to the next step in the Chaser
Copy the selected steps into the clipboard.
Paste the previously copied steps from clipboard to the current position selected.
If none, the steps will be appended at the end of the list
Remove the selected steps from the list and copy them into the clipboard.
Add an existing Function to the chaser, using the Select Function dialog. The
function are inserted after the currently selected step.
Remove the selected step from the chaser.
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Move the selected step above/before the previous step.
Move the selected step below/after the next step.
Run
Order
Loop: Run through the steps over and over again.
Single Shot: Run through the steps once and then stop.
Ping Pong: Run through the steps over and over again, reversing direction
at both ends.
Random: Run through the steps over and over again in random order.
Direction
Forward: Run through the steps from start to end; 1, 2, 3...
Backward: Run through the steps from end to start; ...3, 2, 1
Fade In
Speed
Common: Apply the same speed for all the steps in this Chaser
Per step: Apply a user defined speed for each step in this Chaser
Default: Apply the default speed for each step (0 seconds).
Fade Out
Speed
Common: Apply the same speed for all the steps in this Chaser
Per step: Apply a user defined speed for each step in this Chaser
Default: Apply the default speed for each step (0 seconds).
Step
Duration
Common: Apply the same duration for all the steps in this Chaser
Per step: Apply a user defined duration for each step in this Chaser
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Show Editor
The Show Editor is a panel to display the current structure of a
Show created with the Show
Manager.
At the moment the Show Editor can only rename a Show, which is not possible in the Show
Manager.
The tree view of this panel shows useful information regarding the displayed Show such as:
Function: the function name
Steps: the number of steps that compose a Sequence
Start Time: the time at which a sequence is going to be reproduced
Duration: the duration of the sequence
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EFX Editor
The EFX editor, as its name suggests, is used to edit
EFX functions. The view is split into
two tabs:
General tab is for selecting Fixtures, speed and fixture order.
Movement tab is for selecting details on how the fixtures should move their beams.
General Tab Controls
Adjust the EFX speed settings:
Fade In: The time it takes for the fixtures in the EFX to fade their intensity
channels up
Fade Out: The time it takes for the fixtures in the EFX to fade their intensity
channels back to zero
Duration: The duration of one full round using the selected pattern
Enable the output and run the EFX to test how it looks like
EFX
name
Change the name of the EFX.
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Fixture
list
Step: Shows the order in which the fixtures start their movement in
serial/asymmetric order
Fixture: The name of each fixture that has been added to the EFX
Reverse: When checked, the fixture reverses its movement as opposed to nonreversed fixtures. The "normal" direction is set by direction in the "Movement"
page.
Start Offset: Value in degrees, where on the movement path this fixture should
start
Intensity: The value set to the fixture's intensity/dimmer channel when the
fixture starts to move
Add a Fixture to the EFX, after the currently selected position. Since EFX is used for
moving the head or mirror of an intelligent fixture, only fixtures with pan and tilt
capability (8bit or 16bit) can be added to an EFX.
Remove the selected fixtures from the EFX.
Raise the selected fixture upwards (earlier) in serial order.
Lower the selected fixture downwards (later) in serial order.
Fixture
order
Change the EFX's fixture order—see below.
Movement Tab Controls
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Pattern
area
Shows a 2D-projection of the fixtures' head/mirror movement. Every time you
change a parameter, one small dot for each fixture travels the complete path in
its selected direction from its start offset.
The speed of the movement reflects selected speed settings.
Default direction of the fixtures (can be altered individually for each fixture by
the checkbox in the Reverse column)
Direction
Run order
Forward: The fixtures move forwards along the pattern path
Backward: The fixtures move backwards along the pattern path
Loop: Run thru the steps over and over again.
Single Shot: Run thru the steps once and then stop.
Ping Pong: Run thru the steps over and over again, reversing direction at
both ends.
Select the movement pattern algorithm.
Pattern
Circle
Eight
Line: goes from one end to the other and back; faster in the middle, slower
at the ends
Line2: goes in one direction only; speed is always the same
Diamond
Page 46
Diamond
Square
SquareChoppy
Leaf
Lissajous
Width: Choose the pan width (0-255)
Height: Choose the tilt height (0-255)
X Offset: Move the pattern's horizontal (pan) centerpoint (0-255)
Y Offset: Move the pattern's vertical (tilt) centerpoint (0-255)
Rotation: Rotate the pattern along its axis (0-360 degrees)
Start Offset: Where along the path the movement should start (0-360
degrees)
X Frequency: Change the Lissajous pattern's X (horizontal) frequency (032)
Y Frequency: Change the Lissajous pattern's Y (vertical) frequency (032)
X Phase: Change the Lissajous pattern's X (horizontal) phase (0-360
degrees)
Y Phase: Change the Lissajous pattern's Y (vertical) phase (0-360
degrees)
Parameters
Relative
See below.
Fixture Order
Fixtures taking part in an EFX function can be set to follow the algorithm in certain order:
Parallel: all fixtures follow the same pattern synchronously
Serial: fixtures start following the pattern one after the other, with a little delay between each of
them.
Asymmetric: all fixtures start moving simultaneously, but with similar offset as in the Serial
mode.
Direction
EFX functions' direction can be reversed for all fixtures at once or on a per-fixture basis. The
function can also be set to do an infinite loop, an infinite ping-pong-loop (direction is reversed
after each pass) or it can run through just once, in a single-shot mode, after which it terminates by
itself. If the function is set to do an infinite loop, it must be stopped manually.
EFX Intensity
When EFX is started, it will set the intensity of all included fixtures to the preset value. That
usually means it set them full on. If you don't want this, just set the preset intensity to something
lower, perhaps 0. That way you can control intensity of the fixture using other means like VC
sliders for the intensity/dimmer channels, or by another chaser.
Relative Mode
Page 47
EFX position is absolute by default-in other words, the selected EFX will exclusively control the
X/Y position of the specified heads. When the Relative Mode checkbox is enabled, the EFX
position acts as a layer on top of any position that has already been set (e.g. by a scene or even
another EFX). In other words, the EFX is relative to current fixture position.
In absolute mode. the EFX can be set to run at specific head position (e. g. do circle downstage
center, stage left, etc.)
In relative mode, the center of the preview window (offset x=127, offset y=127) will be applied to
current head position.
It is useful to reduce number of EFX presets: let's say we want to have 3 types of EFX (pan saw,
tilt saw, circle) at 4 places (e.g. 4 stage corners). In absolute mode that means 3x4 = 12 presets. If
we want to change something, we have to edit many functions. We most probably need also one
VC button for each. In relative mode, we create one EFX preset for each EFX type (pan saw, tilt
saw, circle), and we set offset to neutral (x=127, y=127). Then, we create scenes with PAN &
TILT channels for each position. Now we have only 3+4 presets (and 3+4 VC buttons, preferably
in 2 solo frames).
Tips&Tricks
In relative mode, it is also possible to fade between positions (set fade time in scenes) while the
EFX is running.
Using XYPad and relative mode, it is possible to move EFX to any place during the show.
Page 48
Collection Editor
The collection editor, as its name suggests, is used to edit
Collection functions.
Note: Collections don't have speed setting; each function you include in a collection follows its
own speed settings.
Controls
Collection
name
Change the name of the collection.
Add an existing Function to the collection, using the Select Function dialog. The
order of the functions has no significance.
Remove the selected functions from the collection.
Page 49
RGB Matrix Editor
The RGB matrix editor, as its name suggests, is used to edit
function works on predefined
RGB matrix functions. The
Fixture Groups created by the user with the
Fixture
Manager.
Controls
RGB
matrix
name
Change the name of the RGB matrix.
Adjust the RGB Matrix speed settings:
Fade In: The time it takes for the fixtures in the RGB Matrix fixture group to fade
their intensity channels up
Fade Out: The time it takes for the fixtures in the RGB Matrix fixture group to
fade their intensity channels back to zero
Duration: The duration of each step of the selected pattern
Convert the current RGB Matrix into a Sequence. This is useful to speed up the
creation of a Show. Please note that if the selected pattern generates random
data, this functionality will generate a different Sequence every time.
Switch the preview mode between circles and squares
Make the RGB Matrix run as if it were started from a Virtual Console button. Note
that the preview stops while the function is running.
Fixture
group
The Fixture Group that is controlled by this RGB matrix.
Preview
area
Shows a preview of the currently selected pattern imposed on the fixtures defined
in the currently selected fixture group. Note that the preview doesn't show the
difference between RGB-capable and monochrome/fixed color fixtures.
Pattern
Select the pattern and color that are used on the selected fixture group for
drawing graphics.
Plain
Color
When the Plain Color pattern is selected, all the pixels of the RGB Matrix will be
lit to the color selected
Available only when Text is the selected pattern.
Animated
The text edit field is used to edit the text content that is scrolled/flashed on
the matrix.
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Animated
Text
Audio
Spectrum
The font button
is used to select the font (tip: bitmap fonts work best)
The drop-down box is used to select the animation style (Horizontal,
Vertical or Letters)
When the Audio Spectrum pattern is selected, QLC+ will start capturing data
from the chosen audio input device and will represent the audio spectrum as
vertical bars in the RGB Matrix with the selected start and end color.
For an optimal usage of this pattern, the hold time of the Matrix must be set to a
reasonably low value (e.g. .20)
Available only when Image is the selected pattern.
The text edit field is used to edit the image filename
The image button
is used to select the image
The drop-down box is used to select the animation style (Static, Horizontal,
Vertical or Animation)
Supported formats: PNG, XPM, JPG, GIF (for animated gifs only first frame is
used).
Image
Styles:
Static - the image is statically displayed on the matrix. If the image is
smaller than the matrix, it is repeated in both directions. (Tip: for stripes, use
1-point-high images)
Horizontal - the image is scrolled horizontaly. Again, image is repeated in
both directions.
Vertical - same as Horizontal, but in vertical direction.
Animation - play animation. Stack the frames (of width equal to matrix's)
side by side in one image. For example, when matrix is 8x8 and you want
to have 4 frames, make image 32x8. The image is still repeated vertically.
Available only when Text or Image is the selected pattern.
Offset
X: Used to shift the pattern along the horizontal x-axis (negative values go
to the left, positive values go to the right)
Y: Used to shift the pattern along the vertical y-axis (negative values go up,
positive values go down)
Run
Order
Loop: Run through the steps over and over again.
Single Shot: Run through the steps once and then stop.
Ping Pong: Run through the steps over and over again, reversing direction
at both ends.
Direction
Forward: Run through the steps from start to end; 1, 2, 3...
Backward: Run through the steps from end to start; ...3, 2, 1
Page 51
RGB Script Fundamentals
Users can write their own RGB scripts to produce custom graphics projection with the RGB
Matrix function. The scripts' operation principle is to produce a number of RGB maps that each
represent one step in the graphics animation. The principle is basically the same as in movies:
the audience observes a moving picture, which in reality is only a sequentially-played stream of
static images that produce an illusion of movement.
The scripts themselves are written in ECMAScript, which is also known as JavaScript. Note that
the language is case-sensitive and as a de-facto standard follows camel case rules, so make
sure you write everything correctly and pay special attention to the required API features.
Script files should be named after the script's name and must have a .js extension. Depending on
platform, the files should be placed either in the QLC+ system script directory or, preferably, the
user script directory:
Linux user dir: ~/.qlcplus/rgbscripts/
Linux system dir: /usr/share/qlcplus/rgbscripts/
OSX user dir: ~/Library/Application Support/QLC+/RGBScripts
OSX system dir: /Applications/QLC+.app/Contents/Resources/RGBScripts
Windows user dir: Not applicable
Windows system dir: C:\QLC+\RGBScripts
RGB Script API
Foundation
The scripts must be self-executing, i.e. when they are evaluated, the script itself is put inside an
anonymous function that executes itself and returns an object that contains the required API
functions:
(
function() { // Anonymous function starts here
var algo = new Object;
return algo; // Return the script object
} // Anonymous function ends here
)() // Anonymous function is executed here upon evaluation
Properties
However, a script with nothing more than an empty object does nothing, no matter how selfexecuting it might be. You must also declare some properties for the returned object so that
QLC+ knows how to use the script and to show it to the user (you). So, you need to declare the
following properties for the returned script object:
apiVersion: The API version that the script follows. Currently, the accepted values are '1' or
'2'.
apiVersion 1 allows simple scripting and easier coding, while apiVersion 2 offers advanced
features described below.
Any other value will cause the script to be treated as invalid.
name: The name of your script. This name appears in the pattern selection box in the RGB
Matrix Editor
author: The name of the person who has written the script. You.
acceptColors (optional): Informs QLC+ if the script can accept a start color, an end color
or none.
'acceptColors = 0' means no colors are accepted/needed. It means that the script will
autonomously generate the colors information for the matrix pixels.
'acceptColors = 1' means only the start color is needed by the script.
'acceptColors = 2' means both start and end colors will be accepted by the script.
If 'acceptColors' is not provided, QLC+ will default to value '2'.
With this in mind we add declarations for these three properties to the script:
(
function() {
var algo = new Object;
algo.apiVersion = 2; // Can be '1' or '2'
algo.name = "My cool RGB script";
algo.author = "Your name";
algo.acceptColors = 2; // Can be '0', '1' or '2'
return algo;
}
)()
Functions
Now we are getting to the actual business of producing data for the RGB Matrix. The current API
version uses two functions to achieve this:
rgbMapStepCount(width, height)
rgbMap(width, height, rgb, step)
Page 52
No assumptions on the calling order or argument immutability should be made, i.e. do not cache
the values from either function and assume that they are valid until the end of the world. The
parameters might change at any point (usually when the user changes the matrix size, color or
direction) thus invalidating any cached values.
rgbMapStepCount(width, height)
When QLC+ calls this function, it wants to know the number of different RGB maps returned by
the rgbMap() function, when the RGB matrix size is width times height pixels. It must always
return the same result when called with the same width and height parameters again and the
result must not change over time.
Parameters:
width: The width of the grid
height: The height of the grid
Return value: Number of steps produced by rgbMap() with the given width and height
parameters
So, now we add this support function to the script:
(
function() {
var algo = new Object;
algo.apiVersion = 1;
algo.name = "My cool RGB script";
algo.author = "Your name";
algo.rgbMapStepCount = function(width, height) {
...
return number_of_steps_when_width_is_oranges_and_height_is_jabberwocky;
}
return algo;
}
)()
rgbMap(width, height, rgb, step)
This function is the actual brains of the script. It produces two-dimensional arrays whose size
MUST be height times width. I.e. the array returned from this function must contain height items
and each of these items must be an array that contains width items that must be 32bit integers,
representing an RGB color as understood by QRgb without alpha channel (0x00RRGGBB). The
rgb parameter is an integer-representation of the color selected by user in the RGB Matrix Editor.
The step parameter tells the step number requested by the RGB Matrix function and is
guaranteed to be within (0, rgbMapStepCount(w, h) - 1).
Parameters:
width: The width of the grid
height: The height of the grid
rgb: The color selected by user
step: Current step number to produce (between 0 and rgbMapStepCount(w, h) - 1)
Return value: An array containing [height] arrays each containing [width] integers
Just like the previous function, we also add this other one to the script. Now we have a full and
ready template for any RGB script for your indulgence.
(
function() {
var algo = new Object;
algo.apiVersion = 1;
algo.name = "My cool RGB script";
algo.author = "Your name";
algo.rgbMapStepCount = function(width, height) {
...
return number_of_steps_when_width_is_oranges_and_height_is_jabberwock;
}
algo.rgbMap = function(width, height, rgb, step) {
...
return a_2d_array_of_arrays;
}
return algo;
}
)()
API version 2
RGB Script API version 2 introduces the concept of Properties. With properties, a Script can
interact with the QLC+ engine by exchanging parameters, thus extending the possibilities of a
RGB Script.
Examples of such properties can be the animation orientation, the number of objects to be
rendered, etc..
Adding properties to your script is fairly easy, but requires a specific syntax explained in this
paragraph.
Let's make an example:
Page 53
algo.orientation = 0;
algo.properties = new Array();
algo.properties.push("name:orientation|type:list|display:Orientation|values:Horizontal,Vertical|write:setOrientation|read:getOrientation");
The three lines above specifies the following:
1. The script has an internal property represented by the variable 'orientation'
2. Create the properties array. This is needed just once
3. Push (add) the property description into the properties array. This is what the QLC+ engine
will actually read to exchange data with the script
The third line is indeeed the most interesting and the syntax of the string stored in the properties
array must be followed to avoid errors during the script loading.
Attributes must be in the form 'name:value' and each attribute must be separated from the others
by a pipe '|' character.
Following a table of the accepted attributes and the meaning of their values.
Attribute
name
Attribute value
name
The name used by QLC+ to uniquely identify a property. The same name must not
be used twice in a script. It is a good practice to use the same name of the 'algo'
variable that actually stores the property.
This is a fundamental attribute to allow QLC+ to correctly handle a property. The
'type' attribute must be placed before the 'values' attribute.
Accepted values are:
list: defines a list of strings that will be displayed by the QLC+ RGB Matrix
Editor
range: defined a range of integer values that this property can handle
integer: an integer value that QLC+ can exchange with the script
string: a string that QLC+ can exchange with the script
type
The type attribute implicitely defines also how the QLC+ RGB Matrix editor will
display the property. For example a 'list' is displayed like a drop down box, a
'range' and an 'integer' are displayed as a spin box, a 'string' is displayed as an
editable text box.
display
An string that QLC+ will display in the RGB Matrix editor for the user. It is a good
practice to use a meaningful and human readable string to allow users to
immediately understand what a property does
values
This attribute can be applied only when type is 'list' or 'range'. It defines the
possible values that the property can assume. A 'list' type will look like
'one,two,three' while a 'range' type will look like '2,10'.
Values must be separated by a comma ',' character. A 'range' type cannot have
more than two values.
Defines the name of the Script function that QLC+ should call to write the property
value.
In this function the Script's writer should implement all the necessary actions to
apply the property change.
The write method of the example above is the following:
write
algo.setOrientation = function(_orientation) {
if (_orientation == "Vertical")
algo.orientation = 1;
else
algo.orientation = 0;
}
Defines the name of the Script function that QLC+ should call to read the property
value.
The read method of the example above is the following:
read
algo.getOrientation = function() {
if (algo.orientation == 1)
return "Vertical";
else
return "Horizontal";
}
Development Tool
There is a development tool available in the QLC+ source repository that makes it easier to
debug and test your custom scripts with a web browser. To use the tool, you must download the
following two files to a directory on your hard disk, open the devtool.html file with your browser
and follow its instructions:
devtool.html
devtool.js
(Right-click and "Copy Link Location" works probably best)
Example Script: Full Columns
Page 54
/*
Q Light Controller Plus
fullcolumns.js
Copyright (c) Heikki Junnila
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
*/
(
/**
* This algorithm produces fully-lit columns, meaning all pixels on a single
* column are lit together.
*/
function()
{
var algo = new Object;
algo.apiVersion = 1;
algo.name = "Full Columns";
algo.author = "Heikki Junnila";
/**
* The actual "algorithm" for this RGB script. Produces a map of
* size($width, $height) each time it is called.
*
* @param step The step number that is requested (0 to (algo.rgbMapStepCount - 1))
* @param rgb Tells the color requested by user in the UI.
* @return A two-dimensional array[height][width].
*/
algo.rgbMap = function(width, height, rgb, step)
{
var map = new Array(height);
for (var y = 0; y < height; y++)
{
map[y] = new Array();
for (var x = 0; x < width; x++)
{
if (x == step)
map[y][x] = rgb;
else
map[y][x] = 0;
}
}
return map;
}
/**
* Tells RGB Matrix how many steps this algorithm produces with size($width, $height)
*
* @param width The width of the map
* @param height The height of the map
* @return Number of steps required for a map of size($width, $height)
*/
algo.rgbMapStepCount = function(width, height)
{
// Each column is lit completely at a time, so because there are $width
// columns in the map, the number of steps must be $width to light all
// columns per round.
return width;
}
return algo;
}
)()
Page 55
Script Editor
The Script Editor, as its name suggests, is used to edit
Script functions.
It basically consists in a text editor where the user can write a script using a meta-language with
a syntax described below.
The script can be manually modified if you have a full understanding of the language syntax,
otherwise a few helper buttons are available on the rightmost side of the editor to speed up and
facilitate the script creation/editing.
Each line of a script will be executed by QLC+ in a sequential order.
Controls
Enable the output and run the Script to test its execution
Script
name
Change the name of the Script.
When clicked, this button will display a popup where you can choose the script
snippet you want to insert at the current cursor position in the editor.
Start Function: Opens the Functon Selection dialog to select a Function to
be started.
This operation will automatically add a comment at the end of the line of code,
with the QLC+ name of the selected Function.
Stop Function: Opens the Functon Selection dialog to select a Function to
be stopped. If at the moment of execution of this line of code the selected
Function is not running, this instruction will have no effect.
This operation will automatically add a comment at the end of the line of code,
with the QLC+ name of the selected Function.
Set Fixture: Opens the Fixture Channels selection dialog, where you can
choose the channels you want to control with the Script. If multiple channels are
selected, this operation will add one line of code for each selected channel. By
default, the DMX value generated by this opration will be 0 and has to be
changed manually with the script text editor.
This operation will automatically add a comment at the end of the line of code,
with the QLC+ name of the selected fixtures and channels.
System Command: Opens a file dialog to choose the external
program/script to run. Please note that the selected file must be executable to
be accepted. Once a file has been selected another dialog will ask to enter the
program/script arguments. If none are required, just leave the field empty.
Wait: Opens a dialog requesting the time to be waited before the script can
execute the next instruction
Comment: Opens a dialog requesting the text of the comment to insert at
the cursor position in the editor.
A comment has a C language style appearance: it starts with "//" and everything
until the end of the line is then considered a comment
Random Number: Opens a dialog requesting the range of values where to
perform a randomization of a number. The resulting code snippet will be
inserted at the editor current cursor position.
This can be useful to randomize DMX values set through the setfixture keyword.
See below.
File Path: Open a file dialog to select a file. The absolute path and the file
name will be insterted at the editor current position.
If a path contains spaces, it will be writen within quotes
Cut the currently selected text in the editor for a later paste
Copy the currently selected text in the editor for a later paste
Paste a previously cut or copied text at cursor position in the editor
Undo the last performed operation on the editor
Check the Script syntax. A popup message will be displayed indicating if the Script is
OK or the line numbers where syntax errors have been found.
Language syntax
Page 56
The QLC+ Script meta-language is based on a keyword:value model, with some insertions of C
language syntax rules.
Each line of code is parsed by the QLC+ engine and verified to detect the presence of syntax
errors.
Here's a table describing each keyword accepted by the Script engine and its syntax.
Type: keyword
Description: starts a QLC+ Function with the given ID.
Syntax: startfunction:functionID
startfunction
functionID is an integer number of the ID assigned by QLC+ to a Function. Since IDs are not exposed to QLC+ users, in this
case it is convenient to use the helper button on the rightmost side of the editor, which also add a comment with the
Function name.
Eventually a user will learn the ID of a Function and therefore use it to manually add more code to the script.
Example:
startfunction:2 // Green scene
Type: keyword
Description: stops a running QLC+ Function with the given ID.
Syntax: stopfunction:functionID
stopfunction
functionID is an integer number of the ID assigned by QLC+ to a Function. See startfunction description.
Example:
stopfunction:0 // Blue scene
Type: keyword
Description: execute a program or a script at the provided absolute path with the (optional) provided arguments.
Syntax: systemcommand:programPath arg:arg1 arg:arg2 ... arg:argN
systemcommand
programPath is the absolute path of an executable program or script. For example "/usr/bin/vlc" or "C:\Tools\myTool.exe"
If the path to an executable contains spaces, it must be written between quotes.
arg1 ... argN are the arguments to be used when executing programPath. If no arguments are needed, then the arg:
keywords are not necessary.
If an argument contans spaces it must be written between quotes.
Examples:
systemcommand:/usr/bin/vlc arg:-f arg:/home/user/video.mp4 // plays my video with VLC in fullscreen
systemcommand:"C:\Program Files\Tools\My Tool.exe" arg:"D:\My Files\My file.txt"
Type: keyword
Description: sets a QLC+ Fixture channel to the provided DMX value.
Syntax: setfixture:fixtureID ch:channelIndex val:DMXValue
setfixture
fixtureID is an integer number of the ID assigned by QLC+ to a Function. Since IDs are not exposed to QLC+ users, in this
case it is convenient to use the helper button on the rightmost side of the editor, which also add a comment with the fixture
and channel name.
Eventually a user will learn the ID of a fixture and the index of a channel and therefore use them to manually add more code
to the script.
channelIndex is an integer number representing the fixture channel number. Channels indices here start from 0.
DMXValue is the actual DMX value to be set to the specified fixture channel. It ranges from 0 to 255
Example:
setfixture:0 ch:1 val:135 // Generic RGB, Red. Sets the red channel of a Generic RGB fixture to DMX value 135
Type: keyword
Description: wait for the provided amount of time before executing the next line of code.
Note that a wait time can be randomized too, following the random syntax described below.
Syntax: wait:time
wait
time can be either an integer number of milliseconds or a string representing the wait time in the QLC+ way: **h**m**s.**
Examples:
wait:1800 // Waits for 1 second and 800 milliseconds
wait:03s.20 // Waits for 3 seconds and 200 milliseconds
comments
Type: Helper macro
Description: comments can be inserted at any position in the script code and they do not affect the script execution. They
are normally used to give a meaning to a line of code.
QLC+ Scripts comment follow the C Language style rule of the "//" syntax. Basically everything written after "//" will be
considered a comment until the end of the line of code.
So pay a particular attention to not writing meaningful code after a "//" and expect it to be run, cause it won't.
Comments can be added at the end of a Script line of code or they can take a whole line, for example to describe an entire
block of code.
Page 57
Type: Helper macro
Description: generates a random integer number between the provided minimum and maximum values
Syntax: random(min,max)
random
min is the minimum value the randomization can reach. It can be either an integer number or a time string
max is the maximum value the randomization can reach. It can be either an integer number or a time string
Examples:
wait:random(02s.00,05s.00) // Waits a random time between 2 and 5 seconds
// set channel 3 of fixture with ID:1 to a random DMX value between 20 and 235
setfixture:1 ch:2 val:random(20,235)
Page 58
Function Wizard
The Function Wizard's purpose is to help users create some common functions for a quick start.
Controls
Fixture
List
List of fixtures that will be included in the functions created with the wizard. You can
see each fixture's capabilities for Color-, Gobo- and Shutter- type scenes in the
Supported capabilities column.
Include Fixtures to the functions that will be created with the wizard.
Remove the selected fixtures from the function to be created.
Scenes
Colors: Create scenes for changing the color simultaneously on all currently
included fixtures. For this to work, the fixtures must have at least one color
channel that controls a fixed-color wheel.
Gobos: Create scenes for changing the gobo simultaneously on all currently
included fixtures. For this to work, the fixtures must have at least one gobo
channel.
Shutter: Create scenes for changing the shutter position simultaneously on all
currently included fixtures. For this to work, the fixtures must have at least one
shutter channel.
Page 59
Select Function(s)
Whenever a Function needs to be selected, for example when you're adding steps to a Chaser,
using the Chaser Editor, the Select Function dialog is used.
Sometimes the destination that you are selecting the function for might allow the selection of
multiple functions, for example, when adding steps to a Chaser or functions to a Collection. In
these cases, the order in which the functions are selected will also be the order in which they are
added to their destination. On the other hand, when attaching a function to a button in the Virtual
Console, you may select only one function at a time.
Refer to your operating system manual for documentation on how to select multiple items in a list.
Controls
Functions
to display
Function
list
There are two radio buttons on the top of the window: All functions and
Running functions.
By clicking on them, the list below will be filled only with the desired functions.
For example, when performing a Live edit, you might want to display only the
running functions.
Obviously, in design mode, selecting "Running functions" will show an empty
list.
Name: The names of available functions
Type: The type of each of the available functions
You can filter the function list so that only those function types that have been
checked are shown. Filtering is especially useful if you have lots of functions to
select from.
Scenes: Display
Scene functions in the selection list
Chasers: Display
Filter
EFX's: Display
Chaser functions in the selection list
EFX functions in the selection list
Collections: Display
Collection functions in the selection list
RGB Matrices: Display
RGB matrix functions in the selection list
Show: Display
Show functions in the selection list
Audio: Display
Audio functions in the selection list
Page 60
Select Fixture(s)
Whenever a Fixture needs to be selected, for example when adding fixtures to a Scene function,
the Select Fixture(s) dialog is used.
The dialog is very straightforward; there is only a list of fixtures that you can select from. In some
cases you are allowed to select multiple fixtures, for example, when adding fixtures to a Scene or
an EFX. In these cases, the order in which the fixtures are selected will also be the order in which
they are added to their destination.
Refer to your operating system manual for documentation on how to select multiple items in a list.
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Show Manager
The Show Manager has been introduced in QLC+ starting from version 4.0.0, after forking the
original QLC code on November 5th, 2012.
This feature is meant to give users the possibility of setting up a time driven show in a friendly
and completely graphical way.
The graphic interface shows a multitrack view, typical of audio sequencers or video editing
softwares, and with it users are allowed to place QLC+ Functions at the desired place and time in
the view.
Show Manager gives a lot of flexibility during a Show creation thanks to its visual-oriented
approach. Once understood the basic elements, it is very easy to create, move or edit the existing
functions and improve a Show by adding new tracks to it.
Typical use cases of Shows are those gigs where a band plays songs following a metronome
and the light show has always to be the same, following the music.
Another case are visual entertainment shows, where dancers or singers follow some music and
lights create the atmosphere at the right time.
The Show Manager drives users to make large use of the Sequence function. Here's the
explanation of the difference between a Chaser and a Sequence.
Sequences vs Chasers
Even if the Sequence and the Chaser functions have some common ground, they're not the same
thing.
If not done yet, you are invited to read once again their definitions in the Basic Concepts &
Glossary page of this documentation.
The main differences are:
Steps: The steps of a Chaser can represent any QLC+ Function, while the steps of a
Sequence represents different values of the same Scene.
In other words, a Chaser is an independent function, while a Sequence can exist only on
top of a Scene.
The reason for this is, as mentioned before, the visual approach of the Show Manager. If a
track of a Show is the graphical representation of a Scene, then it's more intuitive to think
that each Sequence created on that track is a function controlling the values of that Scene.
Order: Chasers can be reproduced in any order (Forward, Backward, Ping-Pong, Random)
while in the Show Manager, Sequences are always reproduced from the beginning to the
end (Forward). Again, this is related to the visual aspect of the Show Manager, where the
playback has a natural time forward direction.
On the other hand, Sequences created with the Function Manager can have the same order
properties of Chasers.
Editing: The editing approach between Sequences and Chaser is different too.
Normally the workflow of a Chaser is: create a Function, then add it to the Chaser as a step.
The workflow of a Sequence is: create a Scene, create a Sequence on top of it, add steps
to it.
The Sequence approach might be very effective when you design a light show if you can
pre-determine which fixtures you're going to use. Another major advantage of Sequence
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editing is that when you create a new step, the values of the previous step are copied in the
new one. So the user is simply required to adjust the differences between them.
If you are going to create 500 steps and they're all different, then Sequences and Chasers
will take almost the same time to be created.
Synchronization: another major advantage of using Sequences in a Show is that a Show
can easily be extended (or reduced) while with a Chaser you will have a hard time to
synchronize the new functions to the existing ones.
An example. Let's say your project controls 50 fixtures that are a mixture of moving heads,
PARs and scanners. At some point you buy a couple of lasers and you want them to
become active in existing scenes at precise moments in time. The Show Manager allows
you to do that in a few minutes ! You just need to add the 2 new fixtures to the project, add a
track to the Shows affected by the change and create a few Sequences to control the
lasers.
The Show Manager resume functionality will also save you a lot of time when testing the
new changes.
With Chasers you'd probably have to deal with complex Collections and review the timings
of a few steps before finding the right combination.
Show Manager toolbar controls
Create a new Show. A Show is represented as a multitrack workspace where
tracks, sequences and audio elements can be added
Shows list
This drop down box lists the currently created Shows. Clicking on a Show will
display it.
Create a new track or add existing functions to the Show. When clicking on
this button a window is displayed, allowing you to perform the following
operations:
Create a new track: This creates a new empty track that will serve as a
container for Sequences and Audio functions.
Import an existing Scene. This will create a new track and a 10 seconds
Sequence with one single step representing the selected Scene.
Import an existing Sequence: this operation scans the existing tracks
and if it finds a track already bound to the Sequence's bound Scene,
then add the Sequence to that track at the cursor position.
If no compatible track is found, a new track will be created and bound to
the Sequence's bound Scene.
Import an existing Chaser: add a Chaser function at the cursor position
on the selected track. If no track is available, it will create a new one.
Import an existing Audio: add an Audio function at the cursor position on
the selected track. If no track is available, it will create a new one.
Import an existing EFX: add an EFX function at the cursor position on
the selected track. If no track is available, it will create a new one.
Import an existing RGB Matrix: add a RGB Matrix function at the cursor
position on the selected track. If no track is available, it will create a new
one.
A Show can have a virtually infinite number of tracks.
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Create a new Sequence item and bind it to the selected track.
Create a new Audio item. An audio item simply represents an audio file. Audio
items can be added on any track, but if you want to to create a separate track
for it, just create an new track.
Note: It is possible to display the waveform preview of an audio item just by
right clicking it and selecting the channels you want to display (mono, left
channel, right channel, stereo)
Warning: Even though QLC+ allows you to, it is not possible to play two audio
files simultaneously. Especially on Windows, you might experience unwanted
crashes.
Copy the currently selected item into QLC+ clipboard
Paste QLC+ clipboard content at the cursor position. When performing this
operation two checks are performed:
Overlapping: checks if the item you're going to paste overlaps with an
existing item in the selected track
Validity: If you're pasting a Sequence, QLC+ will verify that the
Sequence contents are compatible with the currently selected track
Delete the currently selected item. This can be a sequence, an audio item or a
track. Note that deleting a track will delete also all its sequences/audio
children.
Note: Show Manager will only perform a "visual removal" of functions.
To permanently delete them, please use the Function Manager
Assign a custom color to the selected item
Lock or unlock then selected item. Once an item is locked, it cannot be
dragged on the timeline anymore
Open a window where you can adjust the selected item start time and total
duration. The behaviour of the latter will depend on the selected item.
On Audio and Video items it does nothing.
On Sequences and Chasers it will stretch all the steps timings to fit to the
desired duration.
On EFXs and RGB Matrices some extra options will be displayed, allowing to
stretch the original function or loop the function until the desired duration is
reached.
Enable/disable the "Snap to grid" functionality. The view will be filled with
vertical bars corresponding to the header markers (time or BPM)
Snapping to grid will correct your items by dragging them to the nearest
reference bar
00:00:00.000
This field displays the cursor time position both if the playback is stopped or
activated
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Start the current Show playback from the cursor position
Stop the current Show playback. Clicking once will stop the cursor at the
current position for resuming later. Clicking twice will restore the cursor to 0
seconds.
Hint: When resuming a show with audio tracks, please keep in mind that
audio accuracy depends on the file formats you are using. For example MP3
files resume is not particularly accurate, while Wave files resume is.
Time
markers
This drop down menu lets you to choose the desired time division to display
for your Show.
This can be either 'Time'. 'BPM 4/4', 'BPM 3/4' or 'BPM 2/2'
BPMs
When a BPM time division mode is selected, this field lets you decide the
appropriate BPM to set for you Show. This ranges from 20 to 240.
This can be quite useful when dealing with electronic music or BPM
synchronized shows
Just 4 steps
The Show Manager has been set up to be used quickly and easily. Basically, with just 4 steps a
complete Show can be created:
1. Add a new Show
First of all you need to add a new Show to the view. This creates an empty multitrack view
with no tracks and no items, ready to be filled.
A popup will appear asking the name to assign to the Show. It is possible to change the
name afterwards with the Function Manager, using the Show Editor panel.
2. Add a track
When you add a track, a popup will ask you to select an existing function or to create a new
one with a default name.
When done, a new track will be created. All the sequences created on this track will act
only on the associated Scene, not affecting any of the other tracks.
A newly created track will be set automatically as active. An active track has a green light
on the left hand side.
A Track can be set to
mute and
solo states. The mute state will exclude the track
from the playback, while the solo state will mute all the other tracks of the Show.
When right clicking on a track, it is possible to move it up
or down
for logical
ordering.
Once selected, a track will display its Scene Editor on the bottom of the screen.
3. Add some Functions
When a track has been activated, you can quickly add a
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Sequence or an
Audio
function to it by pressing the toolbar buttons.
Otherwise, by clicking on the
button, it is possible to import existing QLC+ Functions
and add them to the Show timeline.
A new item will be placed at the cursor position, but it is always possible to move it to the
desired time just by dragging it along the timeline.
An item cannot be moved to another track, since it is bound to the track where it has
originally been created.
An item can be copied
, pasted
or deleted
with the toolbar icons. The pasted
item will be placed at the current cursor position.
The item background color can be changed with the toolbar icon
. The assigned color
will be saved in your project file.
Once selected, an item will display its specific Function Editor on the right hand side of the
screen. When right clicking an item a contextual menu will be displayed, showing the
following options:
Preview: This option is available only on audio items. It will display the waveform
preview for right, left or stereo channels when available
Align to cursor: This option will move the selected item to the cursor position
Lock/Unlock: Once an item is locked, it cannot be dragged on the timeline
anymore
Follow step 4 to understand how to fill a Sequence
4. Edit your Functions
Once an item has been created, it is now the time to edit it.
Please note that the difference between a Chaser and a Sequence is that a Sequence is
bound to the Track (so the Scene) where it has been created. So, when adding a step,
QLC+ will not ask to select a particular function, but will always use the channels of the
same Scene.
When editing a Function, you will see the item changing on the multitrack view, giving an
immediate feedback for aligning to other items or particular points in time.
Fade In and Fade Out times will be displayed as diagonal lines over the items on the
multitrack view, while different steps/loops will be divided by vertical lines.
To increase the complexity of the Show, more Functions can be added. Just repeat the above
steps depending on your needs.
And finally...play !
When a complete show has finally been created, it can be played just by clicking on the Play
icon.
Playback always starts from the current cursor postion. The cursor position can be changed by
clicking on the time line.
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Virtual Console
The purpose of the Virtual Console is to act as a blank canvas on which the user can create a
lighting desk layout of his choice. Users can place various GUI (Graphical User Interface)
elements, called widgets, onto the console surface:
Buttons for starting and stopping functions
Sliders for adjusting channel values or function intensity
Speed dials for adjusting function speeds
XY Pads for manually moving intelligent light beams
Cue lists for theatrical performance purposes
Frames for grouping various widgets together
Solo Frames for keeping only one button/function active at a time
Labels to act as static information banners for other widgets
The topmost part of the Virtual Console is dedicated to a tool bar that provides quick access to
the most common actions: adding new widgets, copying them to/from the clipboard, configuring
the widgets and, in case of emergencies, a panic button for stopping all currently running
functions.
Each Virtual Console widget's style can be configured (to some extent). Widgets can be moved
anywhere and resized to any size on the Virtual Console canvas. See the article on Virtual
Console Widget Styling & Placement.
Tool Bar Controls
Add a new Button to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Button Matrix to the currently selected frame, using the Add Button Matrix
dialog.
Add a new Slider to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Slider Matrix to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Animation to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Knob to the currently selected frame. This is a convenient shortcut for
adding a slider widget using the knob style.
Add a new Speed Dial to the currently selected frame.
Add a new XY Pad to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Cue List to the currently selected frame.
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Add a new Frame to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Solo Frame to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Label to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Audio triggers widget to the currently selected frame.
Add a new Clock widget to the currently selected frame. This widget can be used for 3
purposes: System clock, Stopwatch and Countdown.
In the last two cases and when QLC+ is in operate mode, clicking with the mouse left
button will pause the counter, while clicking with the mouse right button will reset the
counter to the initial value.
When in system clock mode, it is possible to schedule when to start a QLC+ function
during the time of day.
Cut the currently selected widget(s) to the clipboard. Note that the widget(s) will only
disappear when pasted into the new location.
Copy the currently selected widget(s) to the clipboard.
Paste the widget(s) in clipboard to the currently selected frame.
Destroy the currently selected widget(s) completely. If a frame has been selected, this
destroys everything inside it, including other frames.
Configure the currently selected widget using its own configuration dialog.
Rename the currently selected widget(s).
Bring the selected widget to front.
Send the selected widget to back.
Change the background color of the selected widget.
Set a background picture for the selected widget.
Change the font color of the selected widget.
Set the font properties of the selected widget.
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Configure the Virtual Console properties such as the size workspace, the widgets'
default properties and the Grand Master slider properties.
Stop all currently running functions.
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Virtual Console Frame
A Frame is a container that can hold a variety of widgets, including other frames, inside. In fact,
the whole Virtual Console is already your bottom-most frame. Also, if you apply some styling
attributes to a frame, all of its children (which have not had their own non-default style settings
applied) also inherit their parent's style properties.
Configuration
Frames can be configured with the properties
clicking the frame itself.
button found in the toolbar or by double
Other than the standard styling & placement options, Frames have the following additional
options, divided into 2 tabs:
Appearance tab
Frame name: Allow you to assign an arbitrary label to the Frame. This will be displayed
only when the "Show header" option is enabled (see below).
Accept child widgets: Allow you to add widgets to the Frame.
Allow resizing: Allow the Frame height and width to be changed.
Show header: Display the frame header. By default it will display 3 elements: An
expand/collapse button, the frame name and a enable/disable button. Some further optional
controls are displayed when the Frame is in multipage mode. See next paragraph.
Pages tab
Starting from version 4.5.0, QLC+ gives the possibility of turning Virtual Console Frames into
multi-page widgets, useful when dealing with a lot of widgets or controllers supporting pages.
The multi-page functionality is disabled by default.
Important note: this functionality will work only with an input profile with a previous page
and a next page
button set.
Following these options to configure this functionality:
Enable: This check box enables/disables the multi-page functionality. When enabled, VC
frames will display additional controls in the header bar (if the header bar is also enabled).
These are: Previous page button, page number label, next page button.
Number of pages: With this counter it is possible to determine the number of pages the
frame is going to handle.
Clone first page widgets: When checked, QLC+ will clone the widgets of the frame's first
page into all the other new pages defined by the "Number of pages" field. This is a very
useful option to speed up the mapping of an external controller where all the pages have
the same widgets.
External input - Previous page: You can set an external input signal or a keyboard
combination here which will cause the previous page of the frame to be displayed.
External input - Next page: You can set an external input signal or a keyboard
combination here which will cause the previous page of the frame to be displayed.
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Header Controls
By default a Frame is displayed with a header. Following a brief description of the default and
optional controls that can be used either in Operate or Design mode.
Expand/Collapse button: when clicked, the Frame size will be dramaticaly reduced,
to save space on your Virtual Console. The collapsed state is saved in your project.
Frame name: a label displaying the Frame name
Enable/Disable button: when clicked, the Frame will go into a disable state. All the
widgets inside the Frame will not respond anymore to input controls.
This is useful, for example, to use the same input controls on widgets of different frames.
For example if you bound the key "G" to a button in Frame A and also to a button on Frame
B, you can enable one Frame at a time to use your key binding univocally.
Page
Multipage controls (Optional): when a Frame is configured in multipage
mode, some extra buttons will be displayed on the header, allowing you to switch between
the Frame pages and to keep track of the current page you're in.
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Virtual Console Solo Frame
A Solo Frame is almost exactly the same kind of a container as a normal Frame in that can hold
various widgets and other frames inside. However, the difference with Solo Frame is that it treats
any Buttons inside it differently by allowing only one button to be enabled at a time. For example,
consider you have Button A and Button B inside a Solo Frame with Button A currently
enabled. Next, you click button Button B which automatically results in Button A being
released, leaving now only Button B enabled.
Configuration
Solo Frames can be configured with the properties
clicking the solo frame itself.
button found in the toolbar or by double
Other than the standard styling & placement options, Solo Frames have the following additional
options:
Frame name: Allow you to assign an arbitrary label to the Solo Frame. This will be
displayed only when the "Show header" option is enabled (see below).
Accept child widgets: Allows you to add widgets to the Solo Frame.
Allow resizing: Allow the Solo Frame height and width to be changed.
Show header: Display a useful header composed of a button and a label. The button
allows you to expand/collapse the Solo Frame, which can save a lot of Virtual Console
space. The label will display the name of the Frame.
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Virtual Console Button
A Button is the simplest and at the same time the most powerful widget in QLC+; with it, you can
start, stop and flash your functions.
Configuration
Buttons can be configured with the properties
clicking the button itself.
Button label
button found in the toolbar or by double
Set the friendly name of the button. The name appears on the button in Virtual
Console. NOTE: If you set an icon to a button with the Edit -> Icon -> Choose
menu, the icon will override this label.
Shows you the name of the Function that is currently assigned to the button.
Function
Attach a function to the button
Detach the current function from the button
Attributes
Shows you the list of attributes of the assigned function that can be adjusted.
Attributes can be controlled by right clicking on the button when in Operate
Mode.
A popup will display a number of sliders corresponding to the number of
available attributes.
If the assigned function is a Show, attributes correspond to the Show tracks,
so you can adjust the intensity (or volume) of a whole track with just one click.
You can attach an external input channel from an input device (like a slider
board) to buttons so that you don't always have to use the mouse, touch
screen or keyboard to access the buttons.
External
input
Key
combination
Input universe: The input universe that you wish to provide input data to
the button.
Input channel: The individual input channel within the selected input
universe that you wish to use for controlling the button.
Auto Detect: When toggled, you can just press a button on your external
input hardware and it will be automatically assigned to the button. The
latest combination is shown in the text boxes when QLC+ receives input
data. If you don't see anything in the boxes, your input connection might
have a problem that you need to fix first.
Choose...: Shows the Select Input Channel dialog that you can use to
select an input channel manually.
You can attach a keyboard key (or key combination) to the button, which then
acts as if you clicked the button directly with your mouse.
Attach a keyboard key (or key combination) to the button
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Detach the current key combination from the button
On button
press...
Adjust
function
intensity
Toggle function on/off: When you click the button, the attached function
is started. When you click the button a second time, the function is
stopped, unless it has already stopped by itself.
Flash function: You can "flash" the attached Scene when you keep the
button pressed. If another type of function is attached to the button,
nothing happens when you click it.
Blackout on/off: When you click the button, QLC+ will toggle the blackout
mode
Stop all functions: When you click the button, all the functions that are
running in QLC+ will be stopped immediately
If checked, this feature will adjust the intensity of the assigned function just
before playing it when the button is pressed.
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Virtual Console Button Matrix
A Button Matrix is basically just a way for quickly creating multiple Buttons at the same time
inside a common container Frame.
When creating a new button matrix, you can assign functions to each of the buttons quite quickly
with the Add Button Matrix dialog.
Configuration
Refer to Frame and Button on how to configure them.
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Virtual Console Slider
Sliders are used for two distinct purposes: Fixture channel level setting and Function playback
and intensity adjustment. Any slider can operate on either of these modes and each mode has its
own configuration options.
Configuration
Sliders can be configured with the properties
clicking the slider itself.
button found in the toolbar or by double
Configuration - General Tab
The General tab holds all of the slider's properties that are shared between the slider's two
modes.
Slider name
Change the slider's name.
Widget
appearance
A slider can be displayed as a vertical fader
or as a knob
. The
appearance can be changed on the fly.
Value
display
style
Actual: Display actual DMX (0-255) values
Percentage: Display percentage values (0-100%)
Slider
movement
Normal: Values increase towards the top and decrease towards the
bottom of the slider.
Inverted: Flip the slider upside down so that values increase towards the
bottom and decrease towards the top.
You can attach an external input channel from an input device (like a slider
board) to sliders so that you don't always have to use the mouse or touch
screen to move sliders.
External
input
Input universe: The input universe from which you wish to get input data
for the slider.
Input channel: The individual input channel within the selected input
universe that you wish to use for controlling the slider.
Auto Detect: When toggled, you can just move/press a button/slider/knob
on your external input hardware and it will be automatically assigned to
the slider. The latest combination is shown on the text boxes when QLC+
receives input data. If you don't see anything in the boxes, your input
connection might have a problem that you need to fix first.
Choose...: Shows the Select Input Channel dialog that you can use to
select an input channel manually.
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Configuration - Level Tab
If the slider is not currently in Level mode, all you see is a button telling you to click it to switch the
slider to Level mode. After you click it, the Level mode properties will be shown.
Value
Range
Low limit: Set the lowest DMX value that can be set by the slider.
High limit: Set the highest DMX value that can be set by the slider.t
From capability: You can limit the slider's level value range to a certain
capability range within a fixture's channel. When you have any channel
value range selected from the fixture list (for example "Dimmer Control 006
- 128") and you click this button, the low and high limit of this slider are
taken automatically from that capability and are set to 6 and 128,
respectively.
Fixture list
You can select individual channels from this list that contains all channels from
all of your fixtures. Those channels that you have placed the tick mark beside
will be controlled by this slider.
All
Clicking this button will select ALL channels from ALL fixtures.
None
Clicking this button will clear ALL channel selections from ALL fixtures.
Invert
Invert the current selection. If you have channels 1, 3 and 5 selected from all
fixtures, clicking this button will de-select channels 1, 3 and 5 and instead select
channels 2, 4 and 6 from those fixtures.
By
group...
If you wish to control a specific channel group from ALL fixtures, you can click
this button and select the channel group to control. Accepting the dialog will
select ALL channels that belong to the selected channel group from ALL
fixtures. This is particularly useful if you wish to have common control over, for
example, all of your scanners' intensity channels.
Monitor
the
selected
channels
and
update the
slider level
(EXPERIMENTAL) By enabled this option, the slider will watch the DMX
channels changes and if they assume all the same level, the slider will update
accordingly for an immediate visual feedback
Click & Go is a QLC+ technology which allows you to quickly access fixtures
functionalities in a completely visual way. When Click & Go is enabled, a button
will appear at the bottom of the slider and with just 2 clicks you will reach the
desired result.
The supported modes are:
Click & Go
None: Click & Go disabled. No button will be displayed.
Color: Single color selection. A gradient of the color controlled by the
slider will be displayed, allowing you to jump to the desired color visually.
RGB: RGB color selection. A RGB Color picker will be displayed, allowing
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Click & Go
you to pick any color from black to white. 16 preset colors are displayed on
the left side for convenience. When selecting a color, the slider value will
be placed half way (128). Moving it downward will fade towards black,
while moving it upward will fade towards white.
Gobo/Effect: Gobo/Macro selection. A grid view of the fixture defined
macros will be displayed and you will be able to choose a macro from its
color, its gobo or its name. When the mouse is over a macro cell, a blue
bar will appear, allowing you to choose an intermediate value within the
same macro. This is useful for functionalities like Gobo rotation speed.
Configuration - Playback Tab
If the slider is not currently in Playback mode, all you see is a button telling you to click it to
switch to Playback mode. After you click it, the Playback mode properties will be shown.
When the slider is in playback mode, the slider acts like a combined button and slider. You can
start a function AND simultaneously control the function's intensity with the slider. When the
slider is at zero, the function is stopped but any value above zero will start the function (unless it
has already been started) and simultaneously adjust the function's intensity (if applicable).
Function
Displays the function that is currently attached to the slider.
Attach a function to the slider.
Detach the currently attached function.
Configuration - Submaster Tab
If the slider is not currently in Submaster mode, all you see is a button telling you to click it to
switch to Submaster mode. After you click it, the slider will be set to work as a submaster.
When a slider is set to Submaster mode, it will control the intensity of every other widget in the
same frame (please keep in mind that the main Virtual Console area is a frame too !)
The intensity of a widget depends on the type of widget itself and which functionality it controls. A
submaster will control the intensity of any QLC+ "light emitting" functionality, either a function or
single channel levels.
For example a submaster can control the intensity of a function attached to a button or the
channel levels associated to a slider in level mode.
Every widget is controlled by a submaster even if the widget's functionality is not active yet. For
example if a submaster is set to 50%, a button pressed afterward will start its associated function
with 50% of intensity.
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Virtual Console Slider Matrix
A Slider Matrix is basically just a way for quickly creating multiple Sliders at the same time inside
a common container Frame.
Configuration
Refer to Frame and Slider for how to configure them.
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Virtual Console Animation
An Animation widget is a complete tool to operate with the RGB Matrices of your project.
It displays several graphical elements to fully control a matrix during live shows.
Most importantly, it allows you to define a number of so called "custom controls" to quickly recall
presets, colors and properties and apply them immediately to a running matrix.
Introduction
When clicking on the
icon, an Animation widget will be added to your Virtual Console.
By default, the widget will display 4 elements:
On the leftmost side, a slider to control the playback and the intensity of a RGB Matrix.
The slider movement can be associated to an external controller input line.
It behaves exactly like a Virtual Console Slider in playback mode.
On the top right side, two Click & Go buttons to set the matrix start and end color. When
clicking on them during the Operate Mode, a color picker menu will be displayed.
Below the two buttons, a drop down menu to select the desired Matrix animation or preset.
The space below the animation menu, is reserved for Custom Controls. They can be defined in
the widget configuration window and each of them will be displayed as a single button.
Each custom control can be associated to a key combination or an external controller input line.
Configuration
An Animation widget can be configured with the properties
Console toolbar or by double clicking the widget itself.
button found in the Virtual
General Page
Widget
name
Matrix
Function
Set the friendly name of the widget, displayed above the two Click & Go
buttons
Shows you the name of the RGB Matrix Function that is currently assigned to
the widget.
Attach a RGB Matrix Function to the widget
Detach the current function from the widget
Apply color
and preset
changes
immediately
Select whether the changes to the Matrix must be applied immediately or at the
next Matrix loop
You can attach an external input channel from an input device (like a slider
board) to the widget slider so that you don't always have to use the mouse or
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touch screen to control the Matrix playback or intensity.
External
input
Input universe: The input universe from which you wish to get input data
for the slider.
Input channel: The individual input channel within the selected input
universe that you wish to use for controlling the slider.
Auto Detect: When toggled, you can just move/press a button/slider/knob
on your external input hardware and it will be automatically assigned to
the slider. The latest combination is shown on the text boxes when QLC+
receives input data. If you don't see anything in the boxes, your input
connection might have a problem that you need to fix first.
Choose...: Shows the Select Input Channel dialog that you can use to
select an input channel manually.
Custom Controls Page
A custom control is a "shortcut" to a functionality of a RGB Matrix.
Basically you can control all the options that are normally used in the RGB Matrix Editor during
the design pahse of a show. The only option you can't control is the Fixture group used by a RGB
Matrix Function.
In this configuration page the user can define any number of custom controls depending on the
needs during a live performance.
Each custom control is represented as a button in the Animation widget layout and can be either
clicked with the mouse or pressed on a touchscreen, or associated to a key combination or an
external controller input line.
Add
start color
Add
end color
Add
end color
reset
Add
preset
Add
text
Add a Matrix start color control. When clicking this button, a color selection tool
will be displayed.
The button displayed in the widget's layout will have a background color
representing the one selected and the letter S.
Add a Matrix end color control. When clicking this button, a color selection tool
will be displayed.
The button displayed in the widget's layout will have a background color
representing the one selected and the letter E.
Add a Matrix end color reset control.
The button displayed in the widget's layout will have a gray background color
and when pressed, it will reset the current matrix end color (if previously set)
Add a Matrix preset control. When clicking this button, a dialog will be
displayed for the preset selection.
The button displayed in the widget's layout will have a gray background color
and a label corresponding to the preset's name.
Add a Matrix text animation control. When clicking this button, a dialog will be
displayed requiring to enter the desired text to be animated on the Matrix.
The button displayed in the widget's layout will have a gray background color
and a label corresponding to the chosen text.
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Remove
Remove the currently selected control from the controls list.
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Virtual Console Speed Dial
Speed dials are meant for adjusting the speed of a set of functions from virtual console, much like
bus-mode sliders in the previous versions of QLC+. While the bus concept relied on assigning
functions and a slider to the same bus, the speed dial's method is a simpler and more
straightforward one: The user directly selects a set of functions whose speed properties are
controlled with the dial, thus removing the need for buses in the middle.
Operation
The speed dial itself looks and works just the same as the speed dials in various function editors:
There is a big dial in the middle that increases the time when rotated clockwise and decreases it
when rotated counter-clockwise. The plus
and minus
buttons are an alternative way of
adjusting the speed.
The current time value is displayed in four parts. When any of these fields is clicked, the dial
and the plus/minus buttons will increase/decrease that unit of time. The mouse wheel can also
be used instead of the dial/buttons and the fields also accept values entered on the numeric
keypad.
h: Hours
m: Minutes
s: Seconds
.xx: Centiseconds (100ths of a second)
Clicking the infinite button disables all of the dial's controls and sets the currently adjusted
functions' speed to infinity. For example, with a Chaser, an infinite duration means that it will
never switch to the next step unless manually instructed to (see Cue List).
The tap button can be used to match the time to a beat. The elapsed time between clicks is
measured and this time is set for the controlled functions, just as if the dial had been adjusted to
that particular time.
For cuelists/chasers and RGB Matrices, the tap button advances things to next step/position
when speed dial is set to adjust duration. The tapped tempo must be more than 1/4 of the original
duration.
Configuration - Functions tab
Speed dials can be configured with the properties
clicking the speed dial itself.
Speed Dial
Name
button found in the toolbar or by double
Change the dial's name.
Displays the list of functions, whose speed value(s) are being controlled by
the dial.
For each speed value (fade in, fade out, duration), it is possible to set a
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multiplier.
Function
table
Fade In *
Select a multiplier to adjust the functions' fade in speed
Fade Out *
Select a multiplier to adjust the functions' fade out speed
Duration *
Select a multiplier to adjust the functions' duration
This multiplier will be applied to the speed dial value before adjusting the
functions' speed value.
Select (Not Sent) so the functions' speed value will not be affected by this
speed dial.
Add function(s) to be controlled by the speed dial.
Remove the selected functions from the speed dial's list of controlled
functions.
Configuration - Input tab
External input can be configured here: one for value with minimum and maximum and another for
tap button.
Configuration - Appearance tab
Individual visibility of the widget's layout elements can be switched on or off here. This way it is
possible to save some screen real estate if some of the fields are not needed (e.g. when
controlled by an external controller, the big dial is not needed).
Show the plus and minus buttons
Show the central dial
Show the tap button
Show the hours field
Show the minutes field
Show the seconds field
Show the milliseconds field
Show the inifinite option
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Virtual Console Cue List
A Cue List provides a list of Functions that you can step through with a single keyboard key. The
Cue List is designed for theatrical performances where the lighting operator needs only to follow
the script and toggle the next cue as the performance goes on.
The first column on the Cue List displays the step (cue) number that runs from 1 to infinity and
beyond . The second column shows the individual Function name that has been assigned to that
particular cue.
Please note that only Chasers can be assigned to a Cue List, for the simple reason that the
Chaser is the only function with a duration. Since any other Function can be added as a step to a
Chaser with the Chaser Editor, it is simple to create the desired Cues by mixing Scenes,
Collections, and so on...
Configuration
Cue Lists can be configured with the object properties button
double clicking on the Cue List widget.
found in the toolbar or by
Cue list
name
Set the friendly name of the Cue List. The name appears as the Cue List's
second column title.
Cue list
This panel allows the user to select the Chaser to associate with the Cue List.
Associate a Chaser with the Cue List using the Select Function dialog.
Remove the selected Chaser from the Cue List.
Playback
You can select the key that you want to use to start/stop the selected step (cue)
in the Cue List with this option. The key combination is shown in the text field; if
the field is empty, there is no key combination currently attached to the Cue List.
Next cue
You can select the key that you want to use to skip to the next step (cue) in the
Cue List with this option. The key combination is shown on the text field; if the
field is empty, there is no key combination currently attached to the Cue List.
Previous
cue
You can select the key that you want to use to skip to the previous step (cue) in
the Cue List with this option. The key combination is shown on the text field; if
the field is empty, there is no key combination currently attached to the Cue List.
Crossfade
You can select external input for the two crossfaders.
Operate mode
When switching QLC+ to Operate Mode, the Cue List will become active, allowing the selection
of the desired steps included in the associated Chaser.
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Pressing the ENTER key will start the selected step.
The following items are displayed at the bottom of the Cue List widget:
Cue
progress
bar
A progress bar showing the current running step status.
When a fade in speed is set and is not set to "default" the bar will be colored in
green.
During the hold time the bar will be colored in blue. The text displayed on the bar
is the time remaining for the cue to end.
If the step duration is set to inifinite (∞), the bar will just display the fade in
progress in green.
When clicked, this button will open/close a side panel showing two sliders for
controlling crossfade. (See next chapter)
Start/stop the replay of the Cue List from the currently selected step
Go back to the previous step in the Cue List, which will then be replayed. When
the top is reached, the previous step will be the last step of the Cue List
Go to the next step in the Cue List, which will then be replayed. When reaching
the bottom, the next step will be the first of the Cue List
Crossfade
There are two faders that can be used to manually control crossfade between two consecutive
steps.
Each slider is connected to a Cue List step and to help to understand their purpose we'll call
them "current step" and "next step" sliders.
The label at the bottom of each slider will show the number of the step that the slider is
controlling and a color to show the status of that step.
The checkbox at the top will link the sliders together to facilitate crossfading between steps.
When the Cue list is running the sliders control the intensity of the associated steps, overriding
their Fade In and Fade Out speeds and so allowing manual control of the transition.
The slider for the current step has a blue label. This will be at 100% when the replay of the Cue
List is started.
The slider for the next step has an orange label and will be at 0% when the replay of the Cue List
is started.
The intensities of both steps can be adjusted by moving the corresponding slider.
However, after both sliders have been moved to the opposite ends of their travel, the following
changes take place:
The orange next step label changes to blue (slider at 100%). This indicates that the old next step
has become the new current step.
The blue current step label changes to orange and the number of the step is increased by 2
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(slider at 0%). So this slider now controls the step which comes after the old next step.
Hint
When a step is added to a Chaser using the Chaser Editor, the default duration is set to 0.
To avoid the steps in the Cue List looping frantically without any result, set the duration of your
steps, either by double clicking on the duration field or by using the Speed Dial widget
Note that if you need scenes that you're going to crossfade manually with the Cue List widget,
you probably will want to set the duration of the steps to "infinite" (∞) using the Speed Dial
widget. This can be enabled in the Chaser Editor by clicking on the
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button.
Virtual Console XY Pad
An XY Pad is for manually controlling the pan and tilt channels of intelligent lighting fixtures,
namely scanners and moving heads. The pad is a resizable canvas with a handle and two
sliders that you can grab to obtain direct access to the attached fixtures' mirror/head position.
Controls
(1) Main area
This is the area where the movement occurs.
(2) Handle
The gray point is the handle. You can move it either with the mouse or with
the keyboard.
(3) Range
sliders
These sliders limit the working area.
(4) Value
sliders
These sliders can be used to change value in one axis only.
(5) XY Pad
name
The name can be changed in properties, see below.
(6) DMX
Coordinates
This part displays current DMX coordinates in format (Pan course.Pan fine :
Tilt course.Tilt fine).
(7)
Horizontal
and vertical
angle
If the fixtures controlled have proper pan and tilt range filled in in their
definitions, and the range is same for all fixtures, then this field will compute
angle from DMX coordinates.
0° is in the middle of the range (DMX value 127.127). For example, if pan
range for a fixture is 540°, the displayed angle will be between -270° and
270°.
Note: this may not work properly, when a fixture has limited axis range in
configuration, or reversed axis.
Range limiting
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Starting from QLC+ version 4.5.0, two more sliders -- (3) in the picture above -- have been
introduced to give you the opportunity to set a working range window in which your moving
heads will operate.
Note that from the GUI the movement of the handles will be limited to the green window area,
while with an external controller all the values will be scaled to the window, so you will be able to
have more sensitivity in the control your fixtures.
In addition, it is possible to set limits for individual fixtures in the properties dialog, see
Configuration section. This setting maps the whole range of the area (the grey area) to the sub
specified range.
Example: set fixture X Axis (=pan) mininum to 20% (DMX value 51), maximum to 80% (DMX
value 204). When the handle is at the left edge (value 0), actual DMX output is 51. Similarly,
handle at the right edge will output 204 (=80%). For values in between, DMX output is scaled
proportionally.
It is possible to have both limits enabled (using the range sliders and limits per fixtures).
Configuration
XY Pads can be configured with the properties
clicking on the XY pad itself.
button found in the toolbar or by double
XY Pad
name
Set the name of the XY Pad. The name (5) is shown in the upper left hand
corner of the widget on Virtual Console.
Y-Axis
slider
movement
The appearance of the vertical slider (the Y-Axis control) can be set to Normal
or Inverted.
In the first case the maximum value will be reached at the bottom of the pad,
while in the second case it will be reached at the top.
Shows the fixtures that are currently controlled with the XY Pad.
Fixture tab
Fixture: The names of each fixture
X-Axis: Shows the value range (and reversal if applicable) of the
horizontal (pan) axis for each fixture
Y-Axis: Shows the value range (and reversal if applicable) of the vertical
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(tilt) axis for each fixture
Add Fixtures to be controlled by the XY Pad, using the Select Fixture dialog.
NOTE: only those fixtures that have pan and tilt capabilities are shown in the
dialog.
Remove the selected fixtures from the XY Pad's control list.
Edit the selected fixture's behaviour as controlled by the XY Pad.
Fixture movement configuration
You can change the extent of movement and reverse fixtures' movement with the XY Pad Fixture
Configuration dialog.
Horizontal X-Axis
Minimum: Set the minimum pan limit for the fixture
Maximum: Set the maximum pan limit for the fixture
Reverse: Reverse fixture's movement on the horizontal (pan) axis
Vertical Y-Axis
Minimum: Set the minimum tilt limit for the fixture
Maximum: Set the maximum tilt limit for the fixture
Reverse: Reverse fixture's movement on the vertical (tilt) axis
Keyboard control
It is possible to control head position with arrow keys on the keyboard. Each keypress
increases/decreases coarse value by 1. With Shift key pressed, fine channel is changed by 1.
With Ctrl, the step is 10 instead of 1.
Arrow keys
Coarse
step=1
Shift + Arrow keys
Fine
step=1
Ctrl + Arrow keys
Coarse
step=10
Shift + Ctrl + Arrow keys
Fine
step=10
External input configuration (Input Tab)
You can attach an external input channel from an input device (like a tablet) to XY pads so that
you don't always have to use the mouse to control your fixtures.
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Input universe: The input universe that you wish to get input data for the XY pad.
Input channel: The individual input channel within the selected input universe that you wish
to use for controlling the XY pad.
Auto Detect: When toggled, you can just move/press a button/slider/knob on your external
input hardware and it will be automatically assigned to the XY pad. The latest combination
is shown on the text boxes when QLC+ receives input data. If you don't see anything in the
boxes, your input connection might have a problem that you need to fix first.
Hint: When assigning a XY pad from OSC, you need to click the "Tilt / Vertical axis" auto
detect button, otherwise the X and Y axes will be swapped.
Choose...: Shows the Select Input Channel dialog that you can use to select an input
channel manually.
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Virtual Console Label
A Label is simply text field that can be placed on the Virtual Console to give additional
information, for example, as a heading for a group of buttons or the title of a frame.
Configuration
You can only set up the text to be displayed in a Label with the Rename
button. It does not
have any other purpose nor configurable options, other than the standard styling & placement
options that all Virtual Console widgets have.
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Virtual Console Audio Triggers
Starting from QLC+ version 4.4.0, this functionality allows you to use an audio input source such
as a microphone, to add more life to your light shows.
Introduction
When clicking on the
icon, an audio trigger widget will be added to your Virtual Console.
The widget's graphics area shows live monitoring of the captured audio, displaying a number of
spectrum bars and a volume bar.
On the bottom you can see the range of frequencies analyzed by QLC+
Configuration
When double clicking on the widget in design mode, a panel is displayed showing a complete
set of options to tune the audio trigger's functionality.
The first thing you can configure is the number of spectrum bars that you want to display and that
you will need during your live show. The number accepted is between 5 and 32.
Once the number of bars has been decided, you can proceed to assign a functionality to each
bar. There is a list showing the following options for the volume and spectrum bars:
Name
Can be "Volume Bar" or a spectrum bar shown as #number (start frequency - end
frequency). Example: #5 (1250Hz - 1562Hz)>
Indicates the type of functionality the bar will control. It can be:
None - No functionality assigned
Type
DMX - Controls single DMX channels
Function - Controls a QLC+ function
VC Widget - Controls a Virtual Console widget (at the moment only
buttons, sliders, tapping of speed dials and next cue of cue lists)
Assign
Info
Disable
When a type is selected, a button with a
icon is displayed to allow you to
connect the bar to the desired functionality. Depending on which type you chose,
clicking on this button will display the DMX channels, Functions or Virtual
Console widgets selection dialogs.
This column displays some additional information about the bar--functionality
association.
Depending on the type you chose, you will find the number of DMX channels, the
function name or the VC Widget name selected displayed here
When selecting a Function or a VC Widget button, this column allows you to set a
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Disable
threshold
deactivation threshold percentage. When the spectrum or volume bar goes below
this value, the associated function/VC button will be stopped/deactivated.
Enable
threshold
When selecting a Function or a VC Widget button, this column allows you to set
an activation threshold percentage. When the spectrum or volume bar goes
above this value, the associated function/VC button will be started/activated.
Divisor
For speed dials and cue lists, this will divide the taps by the selected number only every n-th tap will be actually sent to the speed dial. In other words, the tap
happens only on every n-th beat. If you want the tap on every beat, enter 1, for
every other beat enter 2. For once in a 4/4 measure, enter 4. For once in 3 4/4
measures, enter 12. Maximum is 64.
DMX channels
You can choose one or more channels of the currently patched fixtures. Those channels will be
set proportionally to total volume, or volume in a particular frequency band.
Functions
You can select one or more functions. Those functions are started when volume goes above the
Enable threshold in respective band, and stopped when it goes below the Disable threshold.
VC Widgets
You can select only ONE widget here, either a button, a slider or a speed dial. Depending on the
type:
Button is pressed when volume goes above Enable threshold, and released when the
volume is below Disable threshold (similar to functions).
Slider is moved in proportion to the volume (similar to DMX channels). For a slider the
thresholds do not apply.
Speed dial is tapped.
Cue List "Next Cue" is pressed.
For Speed dials and Cue Lists, the tap/button press happens when the volume goes above the
Enable threshold, and won't happen again until the volume falls below the Disable threshold.
This probably means you will have to set the thresholds a little closer to each other than for
buttons.
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Select Input Channel
Whenever an Input Channel needs to be selected, for example when manually attaching a
channel from an Input Plugin to a Virtual Console widget, the Select Input Channel dialog is
used.
The dialog is very straightforward; there is a list of input universes and each universe that has an
Input Line attached to it, displays the line's (or the attached device's) name after the universe
number. Under each operational universe, there is a list of channels provided by that universe.
You can choose from these channels or select one manually.
If you have an Input Profile attached to the universe, you see the individual channel names and
numbers for the device. If there isn't a Profile attached to an input universe, you will need to type
the channel number manually, by double-clicking the item that tells you to do that and then type
in the channel number manually. See also the tutorial on input profiles
NOTE: All Virtual Console widgets that have been made external-input-aware, provide an option
for automatically detecting the input channel as well, so that you don't need do this selection
manually.
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Virtual Console Widget Styling & Placement
The colors, font, frame style, stacking order, size and placement of widgets can be changed to
better suit your vision of the perfect lighting console. Most of these options, except for moving and
resizing, are available in the Virtual Console Edit menu, that is, they can be accessed from the
menu bar as well as from a popup menu by right clicking a widget you wish to adjust.
NOTE: The Virtual Console widgets' styling and placement options are available only when the
application is in Design Mode.
Moving Widgets
Widgets can be moved simply by dragging them as if you were dragging any icon on your
desktop. Refer to your operating system manual on how to drag items.
To move a widget from one frame to another frame, you need to move the widget through the
Virtual Console clipboard. Cut the widgets from the first frame, then select another frame and
paste the widgets into that frame.
Resizing Widgets
Each widget has a special resize handle
on their lower right hand corner that you can grab
and then resize the widget as appropriate simply by dragging the handle.
Widget Background
To change a widget's background color, choose Color from the Background menu and select a
color from the popup dialog. To set an image as the widget's background, choose Image from the
Background menu and select an image file from the popup dialog.
To restore the default background color (and to clear an image), choose Default from the
Background menu.
NOTE: Some operating systems and/or visual themes do not allow manual setting of background
colors or images. Try changing the desktop theme if you encounter this problem.
Widget Foreground
To change a widget's foreground color, choose Color from the Foreground menu and select a
color from the popup dialog.
Buttons can have an icon in the foreground, which will override any text set as their name. To
change a button's icon, select Choose... from the Icon menu and select an image file from the
popup dialog.
To restore the default background color (and to clear an icon if applicable), choose Default from
the Background menu.
NOTE: Some operating systems and/or visual themes do not allow manual setting of foreground
colors or images. Try changing the desktop theme if you encounter this problem.
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Widget Borders
To change the border style for a widget, you can choose either Raised or Sunken from the
Border menu. To completely remove the borders of a widget, choose None from the Border
menu.
NOTE: Some operating systems and/or visual themes do not allow manual setting of borders. Try
changing the desktop theme if you encounter this problem.
Fonts
You can change the font for all child widgets of a frame at the same time by changing the font of
the frame itself. Alternatively, you can change the font for each widget separately. Fonts can be
changed by selecting Font... from the Font menu. To restore the font back to the widget's parent
frame's font, select Default from the Font menu.
Widget Stacking Order
In addition to the normal 2-dimensions, vertical and horizontal, you can also adjust widgets'
placement in the 3rd dimension: depth. If you see a widget going behind another control, you can
raise the widget on top of all other widgets by selecting Raise from the Stacking Order menu.
Likewise, if you wish to put a widget behind all other widgets, you can select Lower from the
Stacking Order menu.
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Simple Desk
The simple desk emulates a typical lighting console that is able to control a full 512-channel
DMX universe with a multiple cue stacks operated with playback sliders.
Simple desk is divided into two main areas: channels (top area) and cues (bottom area).
The channels area reflects exactly the current status of each DMX channel of each universe. If
channels are controlled with no project loaded, users have a completely manual control of them.
When a project is loaded, instead, moving a Simple desk channel will override any other QLC+
function trying to control that channel. A visual indication will turn the channel background to red,
informing the user that Simple desk now has the total control of it.
This is very useful in some live circumstances where a running function needs some manual
adjustment.
To "disengage" Simple desk from overriding channels, just click on the reset button. Resetting
channels will either bring them back to zero or to the value previously set by a function.
Cues operates separately from other QLC+ components. For example, cues within the cue stack
are not visible in the Function Manager and Scenes are not visible in the cue stack.
Controls - Universe
The universe box contains the sliders that are used to control individual DMX channels in the first
DMX universe. Since 512 sliders cannot fit nicely on the screen at the same time, they have been
divided into pages. By default, each page contains 32 sliders but that can be tuned.
Switch the view mode from all channels to fixture channels. Please note that if no
fixtures has been defined, the second mode will produce an empty result
Skip to the previous DMX page.
Universe
page
box
Displays the current DMX page. You can skip to a page by writing the page
number directly into this box or use the mouse wheel to skip between pages
quickly.
Skip to the next DMX page.
Reset all DMX sliders back to zero or to the value previously set by a function.
GM
The Grand Master
Controls - Playback
The playback box contains a bunch of playback sliders each of which may contain a cue stack.
The playbacks can be used to "play back" the contents of their cue stacks and they can also be
used to adjust their overall intensity of the cue.
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Select the currently-active playback, whose cue stack is shown on the right side
of the screen.
Playback
slider
Adjust the intensity of playback's cue stack. When the slider is drawn all the way
to zero, the cue stack is stopped. Any value above zero will start replaying the
playbacks' cue stack.
Flash the playback's first cue.
Controls - Cue Stack
The cue stack box shows the contents of the currently selected playback.
Skip to the previous cue (or start playback on the last cue in the cue stack with full
intensity).
Stop the currently active cue stack.
Skip to the next cue (or start playback on the first cue in the cue stack with full
intensity).
Switch to/from cue edit mode. When this button is pressed, you can edit the contents
of individual cues; the currently active cue's contents are shown on the DMX sliders.
The Fade In speed, Fade Out speed and Duration as well as the name of individual
cues can be adjusted with the speed dials that are displayed in a separate tool
window. You can also select multiple cues to adjust their speeds all at the same time,
but then the DMX sliders are disabled to prevent you from accidentally overwriting all
cue contents with the same values.
Record a new cue, taking its contents from the current DMX slider values.
Cue
Stack
This box displays the contents of the currently selected playback's cue stack, along
with the index number (1, 2, 3...), Fade In speed, Fade Out speed, Duration and an
optional name for each cue.
You can change the cue order by dragging the cues on top of each other, either one
at a time or multiple cues at the same time.
Tuning
Please refer to the Manual parameters tuning Simple Desk section
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Input/Output Mapping Howto
This howto document tells you how to patch plugins and their input/output lines (physical
input/output devices) to QLC+'s universes.
By default QLC+ provides 4 universes but you can add/remove them as needed.
The input/output mapping is saved in the currently loaded project. This allows you to port your
project on another computer/OS without the need to reconfigure it every time.
If no project is loaded, QLC+ will keep the I/O mapping as a "fallback" configuration.
Input/Output Manager
To access the Input/Output Manager, just click on the tab with the
of the QLC+ main screen.
The screen is composed in this way:
icon placed on the bottom
On the left hand side there is the list of internal universes that QLC+ can manage
On the right hand side there is the list of devices and their mapped inputs, outputs and
feedback lines that QLC+ has detected
On the bottom right hand side there is a panel displaying brief information on the currently
selected device
Every device has a checkbox whenever an input, output or feedback line is available.
Each QLC+ universe can map a single input, a single output and a single feedback line
Some plugins might require configuration before they can be used' so you might not be able to
see all inputs/outputs at first. The configuration button is place next to the information panel and it
is enabled if the plugin allows any manual setting.
The button is icon is:
Adding/Removing universes
QLC+ supports any number of universes, depending on the CPU limit of the device controlling
them.
On the left hand side of the Input/Output Manager there is a toolbar where you can add/remove,
name and configure universes.
Add a new universe. The universe will have a name like "Universe X", where
X is a progressive number assigned by QLC+ (and also the Universe ID).
Remove the currently selected universe.
Please be careful with this operation as it can compromise your project
and cannot be reverted.
When deleting a universe, if it is currently patched or some fixtures are
mapped on it, a popup message will appear asking for confirmation if the
operation should be completed or abandoned.
Universe
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Universe
name
An arbitrary string that you can set to quickly identify the meaning of a
Universe
Passthrough
Set the universe to just forward what it receives in its input line to its output
line
This is useful when you want to use QLC+ to act as a "protocol" converter.
For example you can use this feature to transparently map an ArtNet network
to a DMX USB adapter.
Patching
To patch a plugin's input/output line to the selected universe, you need to place a checkmark on
that particular plugin's input/output line. You can have only one line assigned to a universe at a
time, so when you check another line, the checkmark will move from its previous position to the
one you just checked.
If you don't see any line on a plugin, it means you don't have any device that QLC+ understands
and you're left with the one and only (non-selectable) choice: None.
When an input/output line is checked, the corresponding universe information on the left hand
side of the screen will change and will display the new configuration set.
The plugin information on the bottom right hand side of the screen will change as well and will
give you the new status of the plugin line.
Input and Feedbacks
When a plugin input line is checked, it gets enabled right away, so you can perform a basic test
to double check if your hardware is working properly with QLC+.
Just move a fader/knob on your external device, and if everything works fine, you will see a
icon appearing beside the corresponding universe on the left side of the screen.
If your input device supports a return channel, QLC+ can send a visual/mechanical feedback to it.
Devices such as Behringer BCF2000 support this feature.
At the moment feedbacks are supported only through MIDI.
To learn how to setup your external input device for the best use with QLC+, please continue
your reading with the howto for input profiles.
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Input Profiles Howto
This howto document tells you how to associate input profiles to input universes and how to edit
these profiles. You should first read the howto on input/output mapping so that you can access
the input/output manager and know how to edit input universes.
Input Profile Manager
To access the Input/Output Manager, just click on the tab with the
icon placed on the bottom
of the QLC+ main screen.
Select the desired universe on the left part of the screen and then click the Profile tab placed
beside the Mapping tab on the top right part of the screen.
Profile assignment
You will see a list of available input profile definitions, with a check mark on None. This means
that the current universe doesn't have a profile assigned yet. To assign a profile to the universe,
simply place a check mark on one of the available profiles by clicking on the empty check box.
Only one profile can be assigned to one universe at a time, so the check mark will actually move
from its previous position to the item that you have just selected.
KORG nanoPAD: For unknown reasons, the nanoPAD factory defaults don't map the X Axis of
the pad area. To have it fully working with QLC+, please download the KORG utility (Windows
and OSX only) from here and set the X Axis to CC2 (Control Change #2).
Add/Edit a Profile
It is probable that your input profile is not on the list and you need to create one of your own.
Click the
create new input profile button to start making a profile definition for your
input profile. Alternatively, you can edit any existing profile by selecting the appropriate
item and clicking the
from now on.
edit button. The procedure is exactly the same in both cases
Input Profile Editor
A dialog is opened with entry fields for Manufacturer, Model and Type.
First enter the profile's manufacturer and the model to these fields and select profile type.
Type is one of:
MIDI - for MIDI profiles, usually used with MIDI plugin
OSC - for OSC profiles, used with OSC plugin
HID - for HID profiles, used with HID plugin
DMX - generic DMX profiles
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ENTTEC - ENTTEC Wing profiles, used with Enttec Wing plugin
So far, the only difference is that MIDI profiles show MIDI message parameters in the channel
editor.
Now click the Channels tab to edit the profile's channels. You have two choices for adding
channel definitions: Manual and Automatic:
Manual mode
Click the add button to enter individual channel information by hand for each channel.
Click to remove an existing channel
Automatic mode
Click the automatic wizard button to attempt automatic channel detection. You'll receive
further instructions from QLC+. You must have an input plugin assigned to the current universe
for this feature to work. Also, you must first stop the wizard to be able to navigate away from this
dialog page.
Channel properties
When you add
or edit
a channel, a small window will be displayed, asking you to fill or
change some parameters:
Number: The channel number. Since QLC+ supports a wide variety of input plugins, the
channel number might not be intuitive, so only edit this if you know what you're doing.
Name: The channel name. This is an arbitrary string to indicate the purpose of a channel.
Type: The channel type. This can be:
Other types:
Previous page,
Slider,
Next Page,
Knob,
Button
Set Page were used for Multipage
frames.
For MIDI profiles the dialog contains additional fields:
Channel
Message
Param
Note
where you can enter the channel specification (which translates to channel number) in a more
intuitive way.
Note that you cannot add the same channel multiple times to one profile.
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Sliders movement properties
If your input profile includes slider channels
, when you click on them you'll notice some
extra properties showing up at the bottom of the input profile editor main window. With those, you
can set how values received from a slider should act within QLC+.
There are two behaviours: Absolute and Relative.
Absolute is the default setting and basically tells QLC+ to use the slider values exactly as they
are received from an external controller.
Relative is a more advanced behaviour that comes handy when using a HID Joystick with a
QLC+ XY Pad widget or a Slider widget. Values received from an external controller are treated
as relative movement starting from the current position of a Virtual Console widget.
Let's make an example. Suppose you have a XY Pad in your Virtual Console, controlling and
monitoring a group of moving heads. During your show you will have a number of scenes moving
the heads pan and tilt. At some point you want to slightly adjust the position of the heads of just a
few degrees. Here is when the relative movement kicks in. When you move your joystick (or
external slider) QLC+ will adjust the heads from their current positions. The direction will depend
directly from your external controller. The relative movement will stop when the external controller
will return to its origin. Joysticks have a spring for that.
In addition to this, the Input Profile Editor Relative setting allows you to set a Sensitivity
parameter that will instruct QLC+ about the strenght of your external controller movements. The
higher this value is, the slower the movements will occur. The lower, the faster.
Back to the input profile definitions panel
When you're done with channels mapping, click the OK button to accept changes and save the
input profile. If you didn't enter a manufacturer/model for the profile, you'll be prompted to enter
them before you can continue.
Now you should see the profile you just defined in the list of available input profiles. Remember
how to assign it to the current universe? Scroll up to Profile assignment if you don't.
To remove any existing input profiles, click the
remove button. Note that some profiles are
so-called system profiles and cannot be removed unless you're the administrator.
That's all !
Now you can start using your preferred profile. When assigining an input channel to a QLC+
element (like Virtual Console sliders, channel groups, etc..) you will see that your Input profile
mapping will be used.
List of bundled input profiles
Device
Type
Comment
Akai APC20
MIDI use APC20 miditemplate
Akai APC40
MIDI use APC40 miditemplate
Akai APC Mini
MIDI no miditemplate needed
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Behringer BCF2000 in
MIDI
default mode
Behringer BCF2000 in
MIDI has more controls than the default mode
Mackie Control mode
Behringer LC2412
MIDI
Elation MIDIcon
MIDI not tested
Enttec Playback Wing Enttec
Enttec Shortcut Wing Enttec
Generic MIDI
MIDI
Korg nanoKONTROL MIDI
Korg nanoKONTROL
MIDI
2
Korg nanoPAD
Logitech Wingman
Attack 2
Novation Launchpad
MIDI
HID
MIDI
should work with lot of similar devices: Elation Light Operator 24,
Showtec Showmaster
MIDI Stairville LC24, and most probably also with their 48 channel
24
variants
TouchOSC Mix16
OSC
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ArtNet input/output plugin
Introduction
QLC+ supports the ArtNet protocol through an input/output plugin that receives and transmits
packets on the network.
No extra requirements are needed, since QLC+ has a native implementation of the ArtNet
protocol that works on Linux, Windows and OSX systems.
The ArtNet plugin can send and receive packets from multiple network cards, virtual addresses,
the loopback device (127.0.0.1) and multiple universes per network interface.
By default, ArtNet packets are transmitted as UDP, using the default port 6454 and the broadcast
address of the selected inteface (e.g. 192.168.0.255). When using the loopback device packets
are always transmitted using address 127.0.0.1.
When transmitting multiple universes on the same interface, the packets will be sent by default
with an ArtNet Universe ID equal to the QLC+ universe number minus 1.
For example:
QLC+ Universe 1 --> ArtNet Universe 0
QLC+ Universe 2 --> ArtNet Universe 1
...
QLC+ Universe 8 --> ArtNet Universe 7
This choice is due to some facts:
1- The first valid ArtNet universe is 0 and not 1
2- The first universe accepted by commercial ArtNet-DMX devices like eDMX and ODE is 0, so to
have QLC+ to work out of the box, the first ArtNet universe must be 0.
If the above settings don't meet the requirements of your network, please read the following
chapter.
Configuration
When clicking on the
configuration button, a small dialog will be displayed, showing 2 tabs:
the Universes Configuration and the Nodes Tree.
Universes Configuration: after a QLC+ universe is patched with an ArtNet input or output, an
entry will be displayed in this list, allowing to manually configure the desired parameters to be
used by the ArtNet plugin.
Input lines do not have particular parameters, while an output line can be configured wth the
following:
IP Address: This is the destination IP address where the ArtNet plugin will transmit
packets to. By default a broadcast address is used (so ending with .255) and by setting this
in the 1-254 range, ArtNet will transmit a QLC+ universe in unicast mode. If your ArtNet
network uses a simple hub, the output IP address is irrelevant, as broadcast or unicast
doesn't make any difference. However, if you use a network switch, unicast is fundamental
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to balance the network congestion, as every port of the switch is associated to a network IP
and will receive only the packets with its destination IP.
Note: Do not set the output IP address with the same IP address of your transmitting node
(e.g. the PC where QLC+ is running) as it is just wrong and can cause a network loop. If
you need to communicate with an ArtNet node running in the same machine where QLC+
is running, use the loopback device instead (127.0.0.1).
ArtNet Universe: This is the ArtNet universe that will be actually written in every packet
transmitted. By setting this parameter, you can use any QLC+ universe to transmit to the
desired ArtNet universe.
Transmission Mode: Here you can select if QLC+ should transmit full or partial universes.
'Full' means that all the 512 DMX channels of a universe are transmitted at the speed rate
of the QLC+ internal clock (50Hz), producing a fixed bitrate of about 200Kbit/s.
'Partial', instead, means that QLC+ will transmit only the DMX channel actually used in a
universe, starting from channel 1. For example if you raise channel 3 of a fixture with
address 50, the ArtNet plugin will transmit only 53 DMX channels, thus limiting the
trasnmission bitrate. Use this setting only if the receiving ArtNet node supports partial
transmission.
Settings that are different from the plugin defaults, will be stored in your QLC+ workspace, to
increase the portability of a project across different platforms, such as different operating systems
or a PC and a Raspberry Pi.
Nodes Tree: This tab displays the ArtNet nodes discovered on the network, grouped by network
interface.
QLC+ will always appear in this list as a node participating to the network.
ArtNet nodes are added to this list if they support the ArtPoll/ArtPollReply message, otherwise
they won't appear. This doesn't mean you will not able to communicate with them.
DMXKing eDMX and ENTTEC ODE
If you own one of these devices, they both have configuration tools that might come handy when
working with QLC+. With them you can set several parameters to match the best configuration to
input/output data from/to QLC+.
For example if you want QLC+ universe 3 to output data on the first port of a eDMX, you need to
use the tool below to change the device universe address to 2.
Here the links to download the tools:
DMXKing eDMX Configuration tool
ENTTEC Node Management Utility
Compatibility
QLC+ has been tested with the following ArtNet softwares/devices:
DMXking eDMX1 TX - 1 Output device
DMXking eDMX2 TX - 2 Outputs device
Enttec Open DMX Ethernet (ODE) - Input/Output device
OLA - Open Lighting Architecture - Input/Output software node
ArtNet Controller LITE - Input controller for Android
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Controlador ArtNet DMX (Lite) - Input controller for Android
Modul8
Jinx! - LED Matrix Control
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DMX USB input/output plugin
1 Introduction
The DMX USB plugin supports a variety of FTDI-based USB-to-DMX devices:
DMXKing USB DMX512-A
DMXKing ultraDMX micro
DMXKing ultraDMX Pro
Enttec DMXUSB Open
Enttec DMXUSB Pro
Enttec DMX USB PRO Mk2
DMX4ALL USB-DMX STAGE-PROFI MK2
DMX4ALL NanoDMX
Gus Electronics USB-VL344
Vince DMX512 USB
ElectroTAS USB-DMX
FTDI USBCOM 485+
2 Configuration
DMX USB devices should be automatically detected from QLC+ and displayed in the
input/output panels list.
If for some reason the auto-detection fails, you can "force" the type of your DMX USB adapter
manually.
Click on the name of your device and open the configuration dialog by clicking on the
icon
on the bottom-right side of the panel.
You will see a list of DMX USB devices currently connected to your computer. Each one has a
drop down menu where you can force the device type.
Here's the meaning of each one:
Open TX: Enttec USB DMX Open (and clones) in output mode
Pro RX/TX: Enttec USB DMX Pro or most of the DMXKing devices
Pro Mk2: Enttec USB DMX Pro Mk2 - 2 DMX outputs, 1 DMX input, 1 MIDI IN and 1 MIDI
OUT ports are available
Ultra Pro: DMXKing ultraDMX Pro with 2 outputs and 1 input
DMX4ALL: DMX4ALL USB-DMX STAGE-PROFI MK2
Vince Tx: Vince DMX512 USB in output mode
Note for OSX users: If your adapter is detected but doesn't produce any output, most likely you'll
find the solution in the Questions and Answers page.
3 Requirements
2.1 Linux
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On all Linux distributions, you need to install libftdi. If you install QLC+ with the Ubuntu Software
Center or some other automatic installer tool, this library will be installed automatically for you.
In some cases, if the device doesn't output anything, it might be useful to add your user to the
"dialout" group with the following command:
sudo adduser your_user_name dialout
2.2 Mac OS X
On the Apple Mac OS X, you don't need any drivers at all since QLC+ uses the OS X native USB
interface. Installing the D2XX drivers should cause no harm, but DO NOT INSTALL VCP drivers
as they will definitely interfere with QLC+. If you have previously installed the VCP drivers,
consult the FTDI installation guides on how to uninstall them.
OSX Mavericks issues: The problem is in a new Apple USB driver. The procedure to disable it
follows below.
Please note that this can compromise the behaviour of other USB devices, so do it only if
you know what you're doing!
From a terminal type the following commands:
cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns
sudo mv AppleUSBFTDI.kext AppleUSBFTDI.disabled
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions
2.3 Windows
On Microsoft Windows, the plugin needs the latest D2XX drivers from FTDI. Consult the FTDI
installation guides on how to install the drivers. DO NOT INSTALL VCP drivers as they will
probably interfere with the D2XX interface.
4 ENTTEC DMX USB Pro supported modes
Following a grid showing the IO modes supported by QLC+ for devices like DMX USB Pro and
Pro Mk2.
If a mode is not listed here, it means it is not supported by QLC+ or the device itself because of
hardware limitations, so please do not report them as issues in the QLC+ forum.
1
DMX1 IN
DMX1 OUT
DMX2 OUT (1)
MIDI IN (2)
MIDI OUT (2)
2
3
o
4
5
6
o
o
7
o
9
o
o
o
8
10
11
12
o
o
13
14
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
(1) DMX2 OUT is available only on DMX USB Mk2 Pro
(2) MIDI IN and MIDI OUT are available only on DMX USB Mk2 Pro with a 5-way breakout cable.
MIDI OUT signals are sent from 1 to 512 as described in the MIDI plugin channels map
5 Tuning
Note: Manual tuning should never be performed except for some very particular cases.
Use it at your own risk !
It is possible to change the DMX frame frequency for Enttec Open (and like) devices with a
hidden settings key on each platform. The key tells QLC+ how many times each DMX frame (512
channels) should be sent to the universe per second. A value of "30" means 30 times per second
(30Hz).
Please refer to the Manual parameters tuning DMX USB Enttec Open section
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E1.31 input/output plugin
Introduction
QLC+ supports the E1.31 protocol (also known as sACN) through an input/output plugin that
receives and transmits packets on the network.
No extra requirements are needed, since QLC+ has a native implementation of the E1.31
protocol that works on Linux, Windows and OSX systems.
The E1.31 plugin can send and receive packets from multiple network cards, virtual addresses,
the loopback device (127.0.0.1) and multiple universes per network interface.
By default, E1.31 packets will be sent as UDP on multicast addresses like 239.255.0.x, where 'x'
is the universe number selected in QLC+. The port used is 5568.
When using the loopback device packets are always transmitted using address 127.0.0.1.
When transmitting multiple universes on the same interface, the packets will be sent by default
with an E1.31 Universe ID equal to the QLC+ universe number minus 1.
For example:
QLC+ Universe 1 --> E1.31 Universe 0
QLC+ Universe 2 --> E1.31 Universe 1
...
QLC+ Universe 8 --> E1.31 Universe 7
If the above settings don't meet the requirements of your network, please read the following
chapter.
Configuration
When clicking on the
configuration button, a small dialog will be displayed, showing the
Universes Configuration panel.
After a QLC+ universe is patched with an E1.31 input or output, an entry will be displayed in this
list, allowing to manually configure the desired parameters to be used by the E1.31 plugin.
Input lines do not have particular parameters, while an output line can be configured wth the
following:
IP Address: This is the destination IP address where the E1.31 plugin will transmit packets
to. By default a multicast address is used as described above. By setting this parameter
within the 1-255 range, E1.31 will transmit a QLC+ universe to the desired multicast
address.
When patching a QLC+ universe to the loopback device (127.0.0.1), packets will be always
transmitted to 127.0.0.1.
E1.31 Universe: This is the E1.31 universe that will be actually written in every packet
transmitted. By setting this parameter, you can use any QLC+ universe to transmit to the
desired E1.31 universe.
Transmission Mode: Here you can select if QLC+ should transmit full or partial universes.
'Full' means that all the 512 DMX channels of a universe are transmitted at the speed rate
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of the QLC+ internal clock (50Hz), producing a fixed bitrate of about 200Kbit/s.
'Partial', instead, means that QLC+ will transmit only the DMX channel actually used in a
universe, starting from channel 1. For example if you raise channel 3 of a fixture with
address 50, the E1.31 plugin will transmit only 53 DMX channels, thus limiting the
trasnmission bitrate. Use this setting only if the receiving E1.31 node supports partial
transmission.
Settings that are different from the plugin defaults, will be stored in your QLC+ workspace, to
increase the portability of a project across different platforms, such as different operating systems
or a PC and a Raspberry Pi.
Compatibility
QLC+ has been tested with the following E1.31 softwares/devices:
DMXking eDMX2 TX - Output device
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HID plugin
1.Introduction
The HID plugin supports the HID system on Windows and Linux.
HID is a generic way of mapping input/output devices such as joysticks, touchpads, keyboards,
mice, etc.
The QLC+ HID plugin aims to support only joysticks and the FX5 USB DMX adapter.
2.Requirements
No special requirement is needed for this plugin. Just make sure your operating system is
actually recognizing the device you're going to use. On Linux you might need some kernel
modules (normally provided by modern distributions) and on Windows a driver provided by the
device manufacturer.
3.Joysticks
QLC+ tries to detect the specific joystick functionalities, such as axes and buttons, as individual
channels that can be mapped to your Virtual Console widgets.
Axes and buttons are mapped by QLC+ in sequential order, so for example if your joystick
supports 2 axes and 4 buttons, they will appear in the input mapping dialogs like this:
channel 1: X-axis
channel 2: Y-axis
channel 3: Button 1
channel 4: Button 2
channel 5: Button 3
channel 6: Button 4
4.FX5 USB DMX
The FX5 USB DMX adapter is supported either for output and input DMX data. Check the
product manual for the connection and peculiar issues.
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MIDI input/output plugin
Introduction
This plugin gives input/output support for the MIDI protocol and gives the user freedom to control
typical parameters like channels, Program Change and Control Change.
The MIDI plugin can be quite powerful used in combination with MIDI devices such as
keyboards, MIDI controllers (like Behringer BCF2000 or KORG nanoKONTROL) or a software
audio sequencer like Cubase or Ardour 3.
The usage can vary from fader-to-fader control (the BCF2000 case) to sequence triggering for
synchronized shows (metronome controlled gigs using an audio sequencer)
Configuration
When you click on the configuration button a window will appear, showing all the MIDI input and
output lines detected.
Each line has three options that can be changed depending on your needs:
MIDI Channel: This is the channel where QLC+ will receive or send data through the MIDI
system. MIDI channels can go from 1 to 16. The special "1-16" channel will tell QLC+ to
receive or send data on any MIDI channel.
Mode: This is the MIDI mode that QLC+ will use to send data through the MIDI system. This
parameter can assume three possible values:
Note velocity: in this mode, QLC+ will send data using MIDI notes velocity. MIDI
notes can go from 21 (A0) to 108 (C8) and each note can have a velocity going from 0
to 127, which will be doubled inside QLC+ to match the DMX range (0-255).
Control Change: this is one of the MIDI protocol messages (like Program Change)
frequently used by MIDI controllers. Each device should list the supported CC
messages in its user manual, so please consult it before using this mode. The CC
range can go from 0 to 127 and can have values from 0 to 127, which will be doubled
inside QLC+ to match the DMX range (0-255).
Program Change: this is one of the MIDI protocol messages (like Control Change)
frequently used by MIDI controllers. Each device should list the supported PC
messages in its user manual, so please consult it before using this mode. The PC
range can go from 0 to 127 and can have values from 0 to 127, which will be doubled
inside QLC+ to match the DMX range (0-255).
Initialization message: This is a list of presets (templates) containing the intialization
message that QLC+ will send when opening a MIDI device before using it. A detailed
explanation of this functionality is written below.
Feedbacks
The MIDI plugin is the one of the QLC+ plugins supporting feedback. When QLC+ detects a MIDI
device with an output line, it will enable the feedback check box in the Input/Output panel. Please
note that output and feedback are exclusive, so they cannot both be used at the same time.
If your MIDI device supports a return channel, QLC+ can send a visual/mechanical feedback to it.
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Devices such as the Behringer BCF2000 support this feature. This is very useful during live
shows to have immediate knowledge of the current state of faders mapped in QLC+.
A small trick that can be achieved with QLC+ is to use feedback as a generic MIDI output line to
trigger external controllers/sequencers.
Let's look at some examples:
Input: OSC ---> Output: DMX USB --> Feedback: MIDI
Input: Enttec Wing --> Output: ArtNet --> Feedback: MIDI
MIDI beat clock
Starting from version 4.5.0, QLC+ supports the MIDI beat clock
Not to be confused with the MIDI timecode, the MIDI beat clock is a useful signal to sync BPMbased devices such as a drum machine with your lights controlled by QLC+.
Two special MIDI channels have been mapped in QLC+ to control your Virtual Console widgets
with a beat clock.
Here's a brief explanation of the special channels:
Channel 530: A signal is sent on this channel when a beat clock starts or stops.
Channel 531: This signal is sent every BPM. QLC+ doesn't take any notice of measures
(e.g. 3/4, 4/4, 7/8), so when setting up your MIDI clock you need to consider how QLC+ will
handle it.
Hint: If your controller is set to work at high BPM (e.g. 180-200), you might find difficult to catch
the start signal. One trick for doing this is to catch the stop signal. Example:
1. Enable the QLC+ Virtual Console widget auto-detection
2. Hit play on your device generating the MIDI beat clock. QLC+ will detect channel 530 and
will switch very quickly to 531
3. Stop the playback on your MIDI beat clock device. QLC+ will detect channel 530 again.
4. Disable the QLC+ Virtual Console widget auto-detection
In a similar way you can catch the beat signal as well. Just disable the auto-detection process
before stopping the playback on your beat controller (invert steps 3 and 4).
MIDI initialization message
There might be cases where your MIDI device needs some commands to turn into a specific
operating mode
The MIDI protocol can handle this through SysEx. These are particular messages to instruct a
MIDI device how to behave.
QLC+ can use a XML template to achieve this that can be selected in the MIDI configuration
panel.
Here's an example of how a template looks like:
<!DOCTYPE MidiTemplate>
<MidiTemplate>
<Creator>
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<Author>Your name</Author>
</Creator>
<Description>A brief description of that the template does.</Description>
<Name>Template name to be displayed by QLC+</Name>
<InitMessage>F0 47 00 7B 60 00 04 41 09 00 05 F7</InitMessage>
</MidiTemplate>
You can create the ones you need and place them in your MidiTemplates folder.
You are welcome to submit them in the QLC+ forum.
QLC+ Channels map
To handle a mix of various MIDI messages (Notes, PC, CC, etc..), QLC+ remaps them into a
sequential order.
Following, the channel numbers to be used in the Input Profile editor:
Channel
MIDI message
1
Control Change 1
...
...
128
129
Control Change 128
NOTE ON/NOTE OFF 1
...
...
256
257
NOTE ON/NOTE OFF 128
NOTE AFTERTOUCH 1
...
...
384
385
NOTE AFTERTOUCH 128
Program Change 1
...
...
512
513
Program Change 128
Channel Aftertouch
514
Pitch Wheel
530
MIDI Beat Clock: Start/Stop/Continue
531
MIDI Beat Clock: Beat
In OMNI mode, add 4096 * Channel number
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OLA output plugin
Introduction
The OLA plugin allows direct communication between QLC+ and the OLA framework on the
same machine.
Requirements
The OLA plugin requires OLA to be installed on the system.
Since OLA doesn't run on Windows, only Linux and OSX users can benefit from this plugin.
Information on how to download and install OLA can be found here.
QLC+ needs the OLA server to be running to be able to communicate with the OLA framework.
This can be done either manually by starting up "olad" from a terminal or in the configuration
panel by ticking "Run standalone OLA daemon".
Configuration
When pressing the configuration button over a OLA output line, a small popup window will
appear showing the basic information of how QLC+ outputs are mapped against OLA universes.
On the bottom, a check button will allow you to force the OLA server startup.
OLA Setup
When you have made sure that everything is working in QLC+ and have checked how the
universes are mapped, you can setup OLA to output the signal received from QLC+ to a DMX
device, either USB or over the network.
Here's an introduction of OLA usage.
Basically you need to open a web browser, connect to http://localhost:9090 or
http://127.0.0.1:9090 and add a universe that has the same number mapped in QLC+ and select
the desired output line.
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OSC input/output plugin
Introduction
QLC+ supports the OSC protocol through an input/output plugin that receives and transmits
packets on the network.
No extra requirements are needed, since QLC+ has a native implementation of the OSC protocol
that works on Linux, Windows and OSX systems.
The OSC plugin can send and receive packets from multiple network cards, virtual addresses,
the loopback device (127.0.0.1) and multiple universes per network interface.
By default the OSC plugin will listen on ports starting from 7700, plus the QLC+ universe minus
one.
The output, instead, will use ports starting from 9000, plus the QLC+ universe minus one.
For example:
QLC+ Universe 1 --> OSC input port 7700, output port 9000
QLC+ Universe 2 --> OSC input port 7701, output port 9001
...
QLC+ Universe 8 --> OSC input port 7707, output port 9007
Configuration
When clicking on the
configuration button, a small dialog will be displayed, showing the
Universes Configuration panel.
After a QLC+ universe is patched with an OSC input or output, an entry will be displayed in this
list, allowing to manually configure the desired parameters to be used by the OSC plugin.
For each OSC input or output the following parameters can be set:
Input Port: If the patched line is opened for input, this parameters defines the port QLC+
will listen to in order to receive OSC data from your external controller.
Output address: If the patched line is opened for input, this is the destination IP address
used to send feedbacks to your external controller.
If the patched line is opened for output, this is the destination IP address used to send OSC
data on the network.
OSC output packets are composed to obtain a OSc path like the following: /QLC+ universe
- 1/dmx/DMX channel - 1
For example channel 12 of QLC+ universe 4 will have the following path: /3/dmx/11
All the values transmitted by the OSC plugin use the float type.
Output port: If the patched line is opened for input, this is the destination port used to send
feedbacks to your external controller.
If the patched line is opened for output, this is the destination port used to send OSC data
on the network.
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Note: When patching a Input+Feedback line, the output IP/port you need to change are the ones
in the 'Inputs' section. Just leave the 'Outputs' section as default.
Controllers
QLC+ has been tested with the following OSC controllers:
TouchOSC. A pre-defined input profile is ready to use for the Mix16 layout.
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Peperoni output plugin
1 Introduction
The Peperoni Output plugin supports USB-DMX output devices produced by Peperoni Light.
2 Requirements
2.1 Linux
On all Linux distributions, you need to install libusb. If you install QLC+ with the Ubuntu Software
Center or some other automatic installer tool, this library will be installed automatically for you.
2.2 Mac OS X
Nothing special is needed for Mac OS X. All required components are already inside the Q Light
Controller Plus application bundle because QLC+ uses the OS X native USB interface.
2.3 Windows
You must install the Peperoni USBDMX Windows drivers. Usually these come on a CD along
with the Peperoni device you've bought.
If after installing the driver, QLC+ still doesn't detect your Peperoni device, copy the usbdmx.dll
file you find inside the driver ZIP package (i386 folder) into the main QLC+ folder.
Unzip the driver package to a folder on your hard disk.
Plug the peperoni device to a USB port.
If you're running a 32bit version of Windows, point the "Found new hardware" wizard to
look for the driver under windows/i386.
If you're running a 64bit version of Windows, point the "Found new hardware" wizard to
look for the driver under windows/ia64 or windows/amd64.
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uDMX output plugin
1 Introduction
The uDMX Output plugin supports the Anyma uDMX USB-DMX interface on Linux and Mac OS
X.
2 Requirements
2.1 Linux
On all Linux distributions, you need to install libusb. If you install QLC+ with the Ubuntu Software
Center or some other automatic installer tool, this library will be installed automatically for you.
2.2 Mac OS X
On the Apple Mac OS X, you don't need any drivers at all since QLC+ uses the OS X native USB
interface.
2.3 Windows
This device is not yet supported on Windows.
3 Tuning
It is possible to change the DMX frame frequency for all uDMX devices with a hidden settings key
on each platform. The key tells QLC+ how many times each DMX frame (512 channels) should
be sent to the universe per second. A value of "30" means 30 times per second (30Hz). Please
refer to the Manual parameters tuning uDMX section
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Velleman output plugin
1 Introduction
The Velleman Output plugin supports the Velleman K8062D interface on Windows operating
systems.
2 Requirements
2.1 Windows
You must install the proprietary Velleman K8062D library to C:\Windows\System32.
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Loopback input/output plugin
Introduction
Loopback plugin provides a way to control Virtual Console widgets from Scenes and other
Functions. Data that QLC+ sends to the Output port is looped back to the Input port, where it can
be used for external control. Obviously, the Output port and Input port may be attached to different
universes.
The plugin provides 4 independent lines.
This plugin is mostly for advanced users -- unlike other input/output plugins, this plugin doesn't
control any real device.
Configuration
Loopback plugin doesn't have any configuration. Simply attach Input and Output to desired
universes.
Usage Examples
Buttons that set a (submaster or regular) slider to a
predefined value
These buttons can have a fade time attached, these changes may be gradual.
Steps:
1. Set one universe for Loopback output (U1), and set the slider's input universe to Loopback
Input (U2). Let's say the sliders external control is set to channel 14.
2. Add dimmer channel to U1 at address 14. In the channel modifiers dialog, set it to LTP (so
that if the button goes off, the slider doesn't go to zero.
3. Create scenes with desired slider values for channel 14 in the U1 universe. You may set
fade times as well.
4. Create buttons for the scenes
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Fixture Definition Editor
Fixture Definition Editor is a separate application for creating and modifying fixture definitions
used by QLC+. The definitions tell QLC+ (and users) important details about fixtures, such as
which channel is used for pan movement, what value in which channel changes the beam color
green, how the fixture is reset etc...
The main window in the Fixture Editor is just an empty workspace that contains the actual editor
windows used to actually edit fixture definitions.
Important note: for many reasons, you SHOULD NOT save or copy your custom fixtures in
the QLC+ system fixtures folder. The most important is that when you uninstall QLC+, the
system fixtures folder gets deleted, so your fixtures.
You are recommended to save them in the user fixtures folder. To find it, please refer to
the Q & A section of this documentation.
Controls
Create a new fixture definition. Opens an empty Fixture Editor window.
Open an existing fixture definiton. Open the fixture definition in a Fixture Editor window.
Save the fixture definition in the currently active Fixture Editor window.
Save the fixture definition with a given name in the currently active Fixture Editor
window.
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Capability Editor
With the Capability Editor you can define a value range for a certain functionality provided by a
fixture channel. For example, if values 0-15 produce a white color capability, you might put:
0 to the Min field
15 to the Max field, and
"White" to the Description field
Controls
Min
The minimum value of the capability
Max
The maximum value of the capability
Description
The name or description of the capability. Don't be too elaborate, just a few
words will do.
Click & Go capability
The Click & Go functionality for a channel starts from the Capability Editor.
When a channels group is set to Gobo, Color or Effect, it is possible to assign the color or a
picture that will be displayed by Click & Go on Scene Editor, Simple Desk and Virtual Console
Slider.
This allows very quick visual feedback, and will avoid you having to remember the meaning of
each range of values.
When a channel can support Click & Go, some additional controls will appear on the right side of
the Capability Editor, displaying 3 butons and a preview box. Here's the meaning of each one:
Picture
...
By clicking on this button you can select a picture for this range of values, to be
displayed by Click & Go for visual association and quick access
Color
By clicking on this button you can select the first color for this range of values. When
the first color is set, the 'Second color' button will be enabled. See below.
Second
color
When clicking on this button you can select a second color for those cases where a
fixture supports it. For example, this is quite useful for moving heads whose color
wheels support intermediate positions.
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Capability Wizard
Capability Wizard is a handy tool for creating multiple capability value ranges of same size.
Usually this applies to fixed colors, gobo indices and various macro channels.
Controls
Start
The starting value for new capabilities. Sometimes there might be other capabilities
at the start of the channel's value range that you can skip by adjusting this value.
Width
The size of each value range.
Amount
Number of capabilities to create.
Name
The common name for each capability. You can use the hash mark # to denote a
place for an index number (i.e. "Gobo #" creates Gobo 1, Gobo 2, Gobo 3...)
Sample
Every time you change a parameter in the wizard, this list is updated to show you a
sample of what kinds of capabilities will be created once you click OK.
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Channel Editor
The Channel Editor is used to edit individual channels and the DMX value ranges of each
capability (a green color, a certain gobo, prism rotation, etc..) that a fixture channel provides.
Refer to your fixture's manual to get a detailed list of the fixture's channels and DMX values.
Controls
Name
The name of the channel
The channel's logical group (its role in the fixture).
Assign a channel to the Intensity group if the channel should obey the HTP
rule. Also, the Grand Master controls only Intensity channels by default. Note
also when you create RGBAW/CMY channels, that they should be assigned to
the Intensity group, and NOT the Color group. The Color Tool in Scene Editor is
available only if a fixture provides Intensity channels for RGBAW/CMY, whose
Color properties have been set accordingly (see the Color setting below).
Assign a channel to the Color group if the channel controls a fixed color wheel
or pre-defined color macros. Don't assign individual RGBAW/CMY color
channels to the Color group but instead use the Intensity group as described
above The channel obeys the LTP rule.
Assign a channel to the Gobo group if the channel controls gobo wheel
position or indexing. The channel obeys the LTP rule.
Assign a channel to the Speed group if the channel controls something related
to speed (gobo rotation, rainbow speed, tracking speed). The channel obeys the
LTP rule.
Group
Assign a channel to the Prism group if the channel controls a prism. The
channel obeys the LTP rule.
Assign a channel to the Prism group if the channel controls a prism. The
channel obeys the LTP rule.
Assign a channel to the Shutter group if the channel controls a shutter or
strobe. The channel obeys the LTP rule.
Assign a channel to the Beam group if the channel controls a beam shaper.
The channel obeys the LTP rule.
Assign a channel to the Effect group if the channel controls something that
doesn't quite fit into any of the other groups. The channel obeys the LTP rule.
Assign a channel to the Maintenance group if the channel contains fixture
resetting or cooling fan controls or something similar. The channel obeys the
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LTP rule.
Assign a channel to the Nothing group if the channel should not appear in the
Scene Editor or Fixture Console.
Assign pan channel(s) to the Pan group and respectively, tilt channel(s) to the
Tilt group. See the Control Byte property below. The channel obeys the LTP
rule.
Color
Only available when the channel has been assigned to the Intensity group. It
indicates whether the channel controls a specific color out of the primary colors
Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Amber, White or UV. If the channel
controls the fixture's master intensity, the Generic color setting should be used.
Control
Byte
Applicable to channel pairs that make 16 bit values, usually Pan or Tilt group,
but some newer fixtures support 16 bit dimmer or even RGB, gobo or focus
channels.
For 8 bit values (e.g. when the fixture supports only 8bit movement, only one
channel for each movement), assign the Coarse MSB control byte to the
channel. If, however, the fixture supports 16bit movement (two channels for each
movement), or other 16 bit channel, you should assign the Coarse MSB byte to
the channels that provide coarse value and the Fine LSB byte to the channels
that provide fine value adjustment. If you are not sure, use Coarse MSB.
Capability
list
Shows you a list of DMX value ranges for the currently edited channel. If a
channel provides only one capability (for example pan or dimmer) the only thing
needed in the list is one capability with a range of 0 to 255. For more elaborate
capabilities, such as colors or gobos, you should create capability ranges for
each of the colors (for example 0-15 white, 16-32 blue...)
Add a new capability to the channel, using the Capability Editor.
Remove the selected capabilities from the channel.
Edit the selected capability, using the Capability Editor.
Create new capabilities quickly with the Capability Wizard.
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Fixture Editor
Fixture Editor windows contain everything needed to edit one Fixture Definition at a time. The
windows are separated in three tabs: General, Channels and Modes.
Controls - General Tab
Manufacturer
The fixture's manufacturer name. For example "FooCompany".
Model
The fixture's model name. For example "FooZapper 2000".
Type
The fixture's generic type.
Controls - Channels Tab
The channels tab contains all possible channels that the fixture understands in all of its modes.
The channel order doesn't matter in this tab at all. Instead, channels are arranged in certain order
in each mode in the Mode tab. On the Channel tab, only the channel names, their capabilities
(i.e. value ranges and their purpose) matter.
Channel
list
Shows all of the channels that the fixture understand in all of its modes. Each
channel item also shows all of its capabilities in a sub tree.
Add a new channel to the fixture using the Channel Editor.
Remove the selected channels from the fixture and from all modes.
Edit the currently selected channel using the Channel Editor
Copy the currently selected channel to the clipboard. Channels in the clipboard
can also be pasted to other fixture definition windows.
Paste a channel from clipboard to the fixture definition. Channels in the clipboard
can also be pasted to other fixture definition windows.
Open or close all of the channel nodes in the channel list.
Controls - Modes Tab
The modes tab contains all modes the fixture can be configured to.
Mode
list
Displays all modes for the currently edited fixture. Each mode item can be opened to
display the set and order of channels in that mode.
Name: The name of the mode (each name must be unique)
Channels: Number of channels in each mode
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Create a new mode for the fixture, using the Mode Editor.
Remove the currently selected mode from the fixture. Removing a mode does not
destroy any channels or other modes.
Edit the currently selected mode, using the Mode Editor.
Create a copy of the currently selected mode to the same fixture. Since modes are
tightly coupled to a certain fixture's channels, modes cannot be copied across fixtures.
Open or close all mode items.
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Mode Editor
The Mode Editor is used to create and edit modes by picking sets of Channels in certain order
(as defined by the fixture's manufacturer). Each editor window is divided into three tabs:
Channels, Heads and Physical.
Controls - Channels Tab
In the Channels tab you can place the fixture's channels in an order that forms an actual
representation of the DMX channels that the fixture understands when it has been configured in
that particular mode.
Mode
Name
The name of the mode (must be unique for each mode).
Channel
list
Displays all channels present in the current mode in their proper order.
Add channels from the fixture's channel collection to the mode. You can create/edit
channels in the Fixture Editor's Channels tab.
When you click on this button a new window will be displayed, showing two lists:
The list on the left shows the channels that have not yet been added to this
mode. If you're creating a new mode, this list will show all the channels you
created in the Fixture Editor's channels tab
The list on the right shows the channels that define the mode you're editing. If
you're creating a new mode, this list will be empty.
Please note that the order of the channels in this list is fundamental to the
fixture mode definition.
To move items from one list to another either use the central buttons or simply drag
and drop them.
When done, press OK to update the mode channel list.
Remove the selected channels from the mode. Other modes' channel selections
are left untouched.
Raise the selected channel up by one.
Lower the selected channel down by one.
Controls - Heads Tab
In the Heads tab you can define multiple heads for a single fixture, so that QLC+ knows to treat
each of them individually in certain situations (such as Fixture Groups). If a fixture contains only
one head when it's configured to use the currently edited mode (i.e. all of the mode's channels
control one head at a time) there is no need to define the head. If, however, the fixture has
multiple heads that you wish to be able to control, you must define each head here.
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Heads don't have names as they can be thought of as simple "sub-fixtures" inside a fixture.
Instead, they are automatically given index numbers. The ordering of the Heads should follow the
physical fixture's configuration as closely as possible. So, if the heads go 1, 2, 3, 4 in the real
world, don't define them as 4, 2, 1, 3 or something equally annoying.
Head
list
Displays the list of heads currently defined for the fixture.
Add a new head to the fixture, using the Head Editor.
Remove the selected head from the fixture.
Edit the selected head using the Head Editor.
Raise the selected head upwards by one. You can use this to change the order of the
heads within the fixture.
Lower the selected head downwards by one. You can use this to change the order of
the heads within the fixture.
Controls - Physical Tab
Because some fixtures allow their physical properties (e.g. pan/tilt range) to be altered between
modes, it is beneficial that the fixture's actual physical properties are also tied to fixture modes.
Bulb
Type: The type of the actual light source within the fixture.
Lumens: The light source's total luminous output in lumens.
Color Temperature (K): The light source's color temperature in Kelvins
Lens
Name: The type/name of the lens, if applicable.
Min. degrees: The fixture's minimum beam angle in degrees.
Max. degrees: The fixture's maximum beam angle in degrees.
Technical
Power Consumption: The fixture's total power consumption in Watts.
DMX Connector: The type of the fixture's DMX connector.
Dimensions
Weight: The fixture's total weight in Kilograms.
Width: The fixture's total horizontal width in millimeters.
Height: The fixture's total vertical height in millimeters.
Depth: The fixture's total depth in millimeters.
Focus
Type: The method of focusing the beam on different areas. For stationary
fixtures this can be set to Fixed.
Pan Max Degrees: The maximum pan width in degrees.
Tilt Max Degrees: The maximum tilt height in degrees.
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Head Editor
The Head Editor is used to create and edit heads by picking sets of Channels that are dedicated
to a single head (as defined by the fixture's manufacturer).
Controls
The controls are very simple: place a checkmark on each channel that is used ONLY by the head
you are currently editing. To add a head, see Mode Editor.
When adding heads in a fixture mode that provides a master dimmer channel, you can include
that channel on each head. In this way a RGB matrix function will be able to control your heads
out of the box, with no need to manual dim your matrices.
Channel
list
Displays the list of all fixture channels available in the current mode. Channels that
have been assigned to another head are disabled and cannot be selected
because each channel can only belong to one head at a time.
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Scene tutorial
This tutorial covers just the basic procedure of creating a fixture, a scene and a button and how to
make them work. The point is to give the user a quick yet complete here-hold-my-handexperience on how the Q Light Controller Plus is planned to work as a software for DMX lighting
automation.
Before you start reading this tutorial, please familiarise yourself with the Main window and its
parts.
Now we can really start!
Fixture Manager
Open the fixture manager panel now by clicking its
icon.
The fixture manager is the heart of QLC+ fixture-oriented architecture. As its name implies, you
can manage (add, remove and edit) your lighting fixtures from the fixture manager. On the left
hand side of the manager there is a list that contains all of the fixtures in the current workspace
(at the moment it will be empty). On the right hand side you can see some information related to
the currently selected fixture. On the top of the fixture manager there is again another toolbar,
containing the following buttons (from left to right):
Add new fixtures
Remove selected fixtures
Configure the selected fixture
Group a fixture selection
Ungroup a fixture from a group
Import a previously saved list of fixtures
Export a list of fixtures
Adding a fixture
Add a fixture to the workspace by clicking the
add button.
On the left side of the dialog you can see a list of available fixture manufacturers. Each
manufacturer's name is actually a folder containing a number of different fixture models produced
by that manufacturer. You can find, for example, a "DJScan250" under the "Futurelight" folder. As
you click a fixture from the list, you can see the Channels field on the right hand side change to
display the number of DMX channels required by the selected fixture. There's also a list of the
fixture's channels just under the Channels box.
Go ahead and select Futurelight DJScan250 but don't click OK just yet.
You can edit the new fixture's name in the Name field or you can stick to the default that the
application suggests. If the fixture has different operational modes (different sets of channels),
you can select one from the Mode box. The DJScan250 doesn't have more than one, so there's
just "Mode 1" there. The fixture's DMX address can be set in the Address field and should be the
same as the actual physical fixture's DMX address. The Universe field is used to assign the
fixture to a physical DMX output universe. Usually each universe has its own cable coming from
the PC.
If you wish to add multiple fixtures of the same type, you can increase the value in the Amount
box. If you wish to leave some gaps between each fixture's address space, you can change the
value in the Address gap box. Let's leave these be for now.
If you don't understand the DMX addressing principles, please consult your lighting equipment
manuals for more information. In short, a DMX address is the first DMX channel of a particular
fixture. In the case of a DJScan250 (which uses 6 channels), assigning for example 1 as its DMX
address, reserves channels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 for the fixture. The next fixture must then be
assigned to DMX address 7 to prevent channel overlapping. Let's use address 1 now.
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Back to the fixture manager
Click OK to close the dialog and add one Futurelight DJScan250 to the workspace.
On the left side of the fixture manager you can now see the fixture that we just added. On the right
side, you can see the information about the fixture. You can edit the fixture's name, address and
universe by clicking the Configure button. You can also change the fixture definition through the
configuration dialog, but since we're quite happy with the fixture's information, we are not going
go there.
My first function
Open the function manager by clicking its
button on the main toolbar
If the fixture manager was the heart, function manager must be the brain of QLC+. With it, you can
add, remove and edit various functions that perform the actual light automation for you. Let's look
at the view first. There is, once again, a toolbar containing the following icons (from left to right):
Add a scene
Add a chaser
Add a sequence
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Add an EFX
Add a collection
Add a RGB matrix
Add a script
Open the Functions wizard
Copy the selected functions
Destroy the selected functions
Below the toolbar, there is a list of functions within the current workspace. Since we haven't yet
created any, it's still empty.
Scene editor
Add a new scene to the workspace by clicking the
scene button
With the scene editor, you can create scene functions that basically contain values for a number
of channels that relate to certain fixtures. On the left hand side of the editor there is a list of
fixtures used in the scene, which is empty (but not for much longer). There are also some buttons
to add/remove fixtures and enable/disable all the selected fixtures channels.
On the right hand side of the editor there is a list of channel groups used in the scene. Channel
groups will not be used in this tutorial.
Add a fixture to the scene by clicking the
add button. Select our one and only fixture,
the DJScan250 from the list that pops up and click the OK button.
Now the scene has one fixture to control. Notice also that now there is new tab just beside the
General tab with our fixture name. Click the tab that says DJScan250.
Now you can see a panel with 6 sliders & buttons, each of them representing a channel within
the fixture, but all of the channels are disabled. Above each of the buttons (the ones with icons)
there is yet another box which, when checked, enables the corresponding channel in the scene.
If a box is not checked, that channel will not be touched by the scene at all. This is very useful
when you wish to create for example a function that just sets the color of a scanner, without
touching the gobo, intensity, pan, tilt and other features that you might wish to stay the way they
are.
Set channels 3, 4 and 6 enabled by clicking on their check boxes.
You'll see that channels 3 and 4 changed their appearance and are no longer grayed out. You
can also move their sliders and click their buttons. When you click on a button, you get a list of
available capabilities that the fixture can do when a certain value is set to the channel. In the
case of a DJScan250, channel 3 controls the color wheel, channel 4 controls gobo selection and
channel 6 controls the fixture's shutter.
If you click the button on channel 3, you get a list of available colors that the fixture supports.
Since many of these capabilities are specified by the manufacturer as a value range rather than a
single value, many of these capabilities contain yet another sub-menu. Let's try setting a color.
Click the color
button on channel 3, then move your cursor to "Orange" and select
"80" from the sub-menu by clicking on that value.
Notice that the slider on channel 3 also moved up and the value above it now shows 80. If you
have already patched an output plugin to the first universe, you may already see some action
going on with your DMX equipment, since the scene editor also sends real DMX data to your
fixtures as you edit the values. If you haven't done any mappings, don't feel bad, we'll get to it.
Next, click the
gobo button and choose "Gobo 7", value 126 and then click the
intensity button and choose "Shutter open", value 255.
Now we have a scene function that sets the value of DJScan250's channel 3 to 80, channel 4 to
126 and channel 6 to 255. Now all we need is a nice descriptive name for the scene. Click the
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General tab to go to the general page where we started with the scene editor.
You can set a nice name to the scene by writing it to the Scene name edit box. Type:
"DJScan250 Orange Gobo 7" there.
Now we're going to set a Fade In time to the Scene, so that when we play it it will fade to the
values we set in a given amount of time.
Click on the
icon from the Scene Editor toolbar. A tool will be displayed, allowing you to
choose the Fade In and Fade Out times of the Scene. Let's change Fade In to 5 seconds. Either
use the speed dial widget or manually write '5' on the second last text field where 0s is written.
Close the Fade tool by clicking again on
.
Back in the function manager
You can now see that the function manager displays a function called "DJScan250 Orange Gobo
7".
If you click the right mouse button over a function item, you get the same menu functionalities that
are available in the upper part of the function manager. You can add new functions or edit
existing ones. But let's not edit this function anymore.
Another function
Create another function just like the one you just made, but set the values for channels 3,
4 and 6 to 0 and name the function "DJScan250 Zero".
Virtual Console
Speaking of vital organs, we have already covered the heart and brain of QLC+, and we're only
missing the body with its limbs to make the whole pack work. Well, so much for ridiculous
analogies, let's move on and make our "DJScan250" fixture and its "DJScan Orange Gobo 7"
function do some actual work for us.
You can close the function manager and the fixture manager now, if you want to make some
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room but it's not necessary.
Click the
virtual console button on the main window to show the virtual console tab.
Creating a button
At first, the virtual console is just an empty window without much to look at. There's a toolbar at
the top of the panel, with icons to Add new widgets, Edit for editing widget properties and Tools
for various tools to control the virtual console behaviour. You can also click the right mouse
button on any virtual console widget to access a menu that contains most (but not all) of the
options that are accessible through the menu bar.
Click the
icon to add a new Button widget.
An empty button appears to the virtual console.
Attaching a function to the button
Double click on the button or on the
icon to bring up the button's configuration
dialog.
From this dialog you can edit the button's properties:
* Set the Button label that is displayed on the button
* Attach a Function to the button
* Bind a Key combination to act as button presses * Bind the button to an External Input source
* Set the Button press behaviour
Click the
attach button to open a function selection dialog. Double-click on the
"DJScan250 Orange Gobo 7" function to attach it to this button.
We don't necessarily need a name for the button, but if you feel like giving it one, please do.
Click OK to accept these changes and close the dialog.
A little fine-tuning
If you gave the button some name, you'll notice that it doesn't quite fit and gets trimmed to a rather
short version of the original (unless you gave it a two-letter name). You can resize the button to
any size you like by grabbing it from the box on the button's lower-right-hand corner and dragging
the button a little bigger. But hey, let's change the button's color now.
Click on the button again, and then click on the
icon. Select an orange-tinted color
from this dialog and click OK.
Now the button should have an orange background color. Move the button a bit to the side so that
the next button won't appear on top of it. Well, there's no harm in that, it's just an inconvenience you want to be able to see both buttons, do you not?
Another button
Create another button just like the first one, but attach the function "DJScan250 Zero" to
the second button and set the button background color to black and foreground (text)
color to white.
Seeing the results
Since we haven't covered DMX output patching at all, you probably have a dummy output plugin
assigned to all output universes and you can't get any real DMX output from your computer. This
is OK for now. If you're interested in output mapping details, refer to the Output mapping howto.
Click the
monitor button on the main application toolbar to bring up the DMX monitor
window.
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You should see a bunch of numbers, and the name of our fixture "DJScan250" inside a bar over
numbers 001 - 006. These numbers represent DMX channels and the values below them
represent those channels' values. Since we're operating on with a dummy output plugin, the
monitor is all that we see for now.
Click the
mode switch button on the right-hand corner of the main toolbar to switch to
operate mode.
Hold your breath...
Pay close attention to the monitor while you click the buttons on the virtual console (you
know, the one we just created). Do you see some running numbers that gradually go
towards 80 on channel 3, 126 on channel 4 and 255 on channel 6? Nice.
Note that if you click both buttons simultaneously, the result is usually far from what is wanted.
You need to stop the previous function by clicking its button once more (so that the button flashes
and stays up) to stop the function and then start the other function.
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Multipage frame tutorial
This tutorial covers how to set up a multipage frame and related remote MIDI control. The main
advatages of multipage frames are better usage of screen estate, and more functions can be
controlled by limited number of available real faders.
I will use Behringer BCF2000 as a MIDI controller in this tutorial, because that's what I own, but
you can use any suitable controller. Besides that BCF2000 has flying (motorized) faders that are
very handy when switching pages.
Note: In previous QLC+ versions, it was require to edit MIDI profile to define Previous page and
Next page buttons. This is no longer needed.
Executive summary
If you don't want to read the whole text, here are the bare bones of it:
Create frame/soloframe, enable pages in its properties, enter number of pages, and set the
buttons from previous step as external input. Now page switching should work.
Put widgets to pages, external control will have "(Page X)" appended.
That's it.
The plan
We will proceed with this tutorial in several steps:
Initial setup
Create multipage frame
Setup remote control
Useful tips and improvements
Initial setup
To make thinds easy, let's assume we want to control 32 PAR cans on a dimmer addressed 1 to
32. we want to control them from BCF2000 MIDI controller (that has 8 flying faders). We want to
make one fram with 4 pages, each containing 8 sliders one for each PAR can. If you don't have
enough dimmer channels at hand, either skip some channels and use only 1-2 on each page, or
just check the output in the DMX monitor window.
First, go to Fixture Manager
and add 32 generic dimmer channels.
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Next things will happen in Virtual console
.
Create Multipage frame
The most basic way how to create multipage frame is to create simple frame
. Now right-click
on the frame to open context menu, and select "Widget properties" (or press CTRL-E). Go to
"Pages" tab. Select "Enable", to enable the multipage functionality. Enter "4" in the "Number of
pages" edit box. Press "OK".
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Now we'll add the faders for the first page. Add 8 faders one by one. Then click on the
button and do the same for page 2, and again for pages 3 and 4. For each button, open its Widget
properties, select level mode, and select respective dimmer channel.
Now change to operate mode, and check if the sliders work.
Alternative approach
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Instead of separately creating sliders for each page, we could create them before enabling pages
and we would select also "clone first page widgets". Then all sliders will be cloned to all pages.
MIDI control
In the next step, we are going to setup MIDI remote control. In other words, we want to control
switching of the pages and the sliders from the MIDI controller.
We start in Input/Outputs tab and setting basic MIDI control. Select e.g. universe 2 for MIDI
control, choose BCF2000 MIDI 1 port; check both "input" and "feedback", and select BCF2000
profile.
Now go to the virtual console, right click the multipage frame, and select "Widget Properties".
Select some buttons as external controls for Previous and Next page, either by autodetection, or
choose from the list (Don't forget to disable autodetect for Previous Page when you are setting
Next Page, otherwise you will change both!). I use "Button 9 Top" for previous page, and "Button
10 TOP" for next page, but you can choose any buttons. Push OK to close the dialog. Now the
two buttons should work. Try them now to switch the pages.
The last thing to do is to link the sliders in the frame with the BCF faders. Select page 1, and
open properties for every slider on the page, setting external control as usual. The BCF sliders
will have "(Page 1)" appended to them ("82: Slider 1 (Page 1)"). When you are finished with the
first page, select page 2, and do the same, and then page 3 and 4. Since with BCF200 we have
MIDI feedback, it's not important if we switch pages in QLC+ or on the MIDI controller. For
controllers without feedback, it's crucial to use buttons on the controller, otherwise the pages will
get out of sync.
Now you can test the sliders from MIDI controller - all of the 32 PAR cans should be controllable
using those 8 faders and 2 buttons.
Tips and tricks
Multipage solo frames
Solo frames work across pages. If you press a button on any page, buttons/widgets on all pages
will et released.
It is not possible (yet?) to set some buttons to select concrete page, e.g.
button to select Page 1, another for Page 2, etc.
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Sound Control Tutorial
This tutorial covers how to set up sound control for chasers.
The steps
1. In
2. In the
3. Add
Function Manager, create
Virtual Console, create
Chaser, set steps to have infinite hold time
cue list for that chaser
audio triggers widget
4. In the audio trigger properties: choose proper frequency band (or use volume band), set
type to
VC Widget and select your
cue list. Audio trigger will press
"next"
button on the cuelist.
5. now adjust parameters:
enable threshold - when the volume goes over enable threshold, the button will be
pushed.
disable threshold - when the button is pushed, it won't be pushed again before the
volume goes below this level. This is so that the button is pushed only once per beat
divisor - the button will be pushed every x-th beat - when you want to advance the
chaser every other beat, put here 2, every 4-th beat - put 4, etc.
6. close properties, start Operate mode, enable audiotriggers and that's it.
The whole process is described in this video.
Audio Trigger widget offers more ways of sound control. For details, see the description.
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BCF2000 and LC2412
This is small howto to setup remote control with Behringer LC2412 connected through BCF2000.
Everything said here is also valid for BCR2000.
With this setup (BCF2000 + LC2412) we get:
8 motorized faders
8 turn encoders
30 non-motorized faders
lots of buttons
That makes a pretty nice console and a much less clicks with mouse :)
Now the steps:
1. Connect MIDI cable from LC2412 MIDI out to MIDI IN on BCF2000. Connect USB cable
from BCF2000 to the computer.
2. Set BCF2000 to U-2 mode
Press and hold EDIT and then push STORE.
Release both buttons.
Turn the leftmost encoder until it shows u-2.
Push EXIT button.
3. Start QLC+
4. In the INPUT/OUTPUTs tab:
For one universe, choose BCF2000 MIDI 1 port; check both "input" and "feedback",
and select BCF2000 profile
For another universe, choose BCF2000 MIDI 2 port; check "input" only - LC2412
does not have feedback capability. Choose LC2412 profile.
5. Now you can choose from knobs, faders and buttons of either device for your VC controls.
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Command-Line Parameters
QLC+ supports a number of command line parameters to automate/extend some functionalities
on startup.
Using command line parameters can be tricky depending on the operating system you're using:
Linux: just open a terminal and type "qlcplus" followed by the parameters you need
Windows: create a shortcut of qlcplus.exe (usually located in C:\QLC+) on your desktop.
Right click on the shortcut and select "Properties". In the "Target" field you will see
something like "C:\QLC+\qlcplus.exe". There you can add command line parameters.
When done click OK.
Example: Setting Czech locale:
OSX: This is the most difficult case since QLC+ on OSX is bundled into a DMG package.
You need to open a terminal and "cd" into the QLC+ DMG like this:
cd QLC+.app\Contents\MacOS
When done, type "qlcplus" followed by the parameters you need
-c or --closebutton
Description: Define a position for a close button in the virtual console. The button can be used
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to close QLC+. Only has an effect in kiosk mode (see -k) and is most useful when in fullscreen
mode without a window manager.
Parameters: x,y,w,h
Examples:
Create a button at (x400, y500) whose size is (w70, h50):
qlcplus -c 400,500,70,50
qlcplus --closebutton 400,500,70,50
-d or --debug
Description: Enable debug mode and optionally set the output level. Note that since 4.8.0
messages for level DEBUG (0) are not included in released binaries.
Parameters: Level (see QtMsgType)
Examples:
Enable debug mode and set debug level to 0:
qlcplus -d
qlcplus --debug
Enable debug mode and set debug level to 3:
qlcplus -d 3
-f or --fullscreen
Description: Start the application in fullscreen mode
Parameters: Method (either 'normal' or 'resize')
Examples:
Tell the window manager to give the whole screen space to QLC+:
qlcplus -f
qlcplus --fullscreen
qlcplus -f normal
qlcplus --fullscreen normal
Resize QLC+ to take up the whole screen space (useful in custom X11 sessions without a
window manager):
qlcplus -f resize
qlcplus --fullscreen resize
-g or --log
Description: Log debug messages to a file ($HOME/QLC+.log)
Parameters: None
Examples:
Enable debug messages and store them to log file:
qlcplus -d 0 -g
qlcplus --debug 0 --log
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-h or --help
Description: Display command-line help (only in Linux & OS X)
Parameters: None
Examples:
Display the command-line help:
qlcplus -h
qlcplus --help
-k or --kiosk
Description: Enable kiosk-mode (only virtual console is visible and the application is locked in
operate mode)
Parameters: None
Examples:
Start the application in kiosk mode:
qlcplus -k
qlcplus --kiosk
-l or --locale
Description: Use the given locale for translation
Parameters: Locale name (currently supported: ca_ES, cz_CZ, de_DE, en_GB, es_ES, fi_FI,
fr_FR, it_IT, ja_JP, nl_NL, pt_BR)
Examples:
Use finnish language:
qlcplus -l fi_FI
qlcplus --locale fi_FI
-o or --open
Description: Open the given workspace file
Parameters: File name
Examples:
Open mydesk.qxw:
qlcplus -o mydesk.qxw
qlcplus --open mydesk.qxw
-p or --operate
Description: Start the application in Operate mode.
Parameters: None
Examples:
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Start QLC+ in operate mode:
qlcplus -p
qlcplus --operate
-v or --version
Description: Display the current application version number
Parameters: None
Examples:
qlcplus -v
qlcplus --version
-w or --web
Description: Enable remote web access on port 9999
Parameters: None
Examples:
qlcplus -w
qlcplus --web
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Kiosk Mode
QLC+ has a special mode when your lighting needs to be operated by inexperienced people, or
you just want to prevent unwanted changes. It's called the Kiosk mode. In this mode only the
Virtual Console is displayed, so no editing is possible.
When you want to start QLC+ in kiosk mode, run:
qlcplus -k -f -o workspace.qxw -p -c 500,10,32,32
-k enables the kiosk mode
-f puts QLC+ in fullscreen mode
-o workspace.qxw opens specified workspace
-p starts operate mode
-c 500,10,32,32 creates a close button with size of 32x32 pixels, 500 pixels from left and 10
pixels from top.
You can of course specify your own workspace file for -o, and size/position for -c.
You can omit any of the paramteres if you need to - for example, omit -c 500,10,32,32 if you don't
want close button, and omit -f if you don't want fullscreen.
All command-line parameters are described here.
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Web Interface
By default, QLC+ includes a web interface based on the Mongoose project HTTP server.
It comes very handy when you need to run QLC+ on a device without a display (headless
system) either to work standalone or for remote controlling.
The web interface is not enabled by default but can be easily activated by running QLC+ with "w" or "--web" option. Please refer to the command line paramters page of this documentation to
learn how to do it.
The web interface can be accessed from any modern web browser running on any device, such
as a computer, a tablet or a smartphone. Your browser need to support the web sockets
technology to communicate with QLC+.
It is recommended to use Google Chrome.
To access the QLC+ web interface simply connect to this address:
http://*IP address*:9999
Where *IP address* is the IP address of the device you want to access via web. For example:
http://192.168.0.100:9999
The web interface consists in two pages:
Virtual Console
Configuration
Virtual Console page
This page is displayed by default when accessing the web interface address and it represents
the QLC+ Virtual Console.
If a project is loaded, this page will display the widgets previously created with QLC+, otherwise
it will just show an empty page.
It is possible to load a project with the Load project button placed on the top left corner of the
page. A window will show up, allowing you to choose a file from the device you're using to
control the device where QLC+ is running.
The project file will be transferred via web and loaded by QLC+.
To access the QLC+ configuration page, just click on the Configuration button.
Configuration page
This page allows to remotely set the QLC+ configuration, divided in three areas:
Universes configuration: Allows to set the inputs, outputs, feedback, profiles and
passthrough mode for each QLC+ universe. This is basically the same functionality of the
QLC+ input/output panel.
Since a QLC+ project contains also the I/O information, most likely you won't have to
manually configure it on this page, but just check if everything is correct.
Audio configuration: Allows to select the audio devices used for audio playback or audio
input.
User loaded fixtures: Allows to remotely load a custom fixture to QLC+.
When clicking on the Load fixture button, a window will show up, allowing you to choose a
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file from the device you're using to control the device where QLC+ is running.
The fixture file will be transferred via web and loaded by QLC+.
When adding new custom fixtures it is recommended to reload a project or either restart
QLC+ on the target device.
Once the configuration has been set, it is possible to go back to the web interface main page by
clicking on the Back button, placed at the top left corner of the page.
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Parameters tuning
This section explains how to manually get at and tune some QLC+ parameters not available from
the UI.
Keep in mind that if you cannot change them from the UI, it means there is a good reason for it.
Warning: DO NOT edit the configuration files manually
unless you know what you're doing. Any misplaced change
can cause program crashes or awkward instability.
1 QLC+ configuration location
Linux
Configuration files are located in your user $HOME directory, in the .config/qlcplus folder.
Here's the quick command to access it from a terminal:
cd $HOME/.config/qlcplus
You will find both QLC+ and Fixture editor configuration files.
Windows
Configuration parameters are stored in the Windows registry.
To access it, run the "regedit" tool and search for the key named "qlcplus".
Mac OSX
Configuration files are located in your user $HOME directory, in the Library/Preferences folder.
Here's the quick command to access it from a terminal:
cd $HOME/Library/Preferences
QLC+ configuration file is called net.sf.Q Light Controller Plus.plist while the Fixture editor
configuration file is called net.sf.Fixture Definition Editor.plist.
2 Configuration Reset
Sometimes it might be necessary to reset the QLC+ configuration and bring QLC+ to a "Factory
defaults" state.
To do so, locate the configuration as explained in the first paragraph, then do the following:
On Linux and OSX use the rm 'filename' command to delete the configuration file
On Windows delete the whole 'qlcplus' KEY using regedit
3 Parameters syntax
Due to Qt differences on different platforms, parameters are stored in different ways depending
on your Operating System.
Linux
Parameters are stored in a plain text file that you can modify with a plain text editor like gedit,
kwrite, kate, nano, vim or similar. They are presented as follows:
[category]
name=value
Windows
Parameters are stored in the Windows registry and can be modified with the regedit tool included
in every Windows version. They are presented as follows:
"category" is displayed as a folder
"parameter" is contained in "category" and is represented as a key. It is most likely that all QLC+ keys are an integer type.
"value" is the actual value of "parameter"
Mac OSX
Parameters are stored in a plain text file that you can modify with a plain text editor like
TextWrangler or similar. They are presented as follows:
<key>category/name</key>
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<string>value</string>
4 Parameters list
Most likely you will not find the following parameters in a standard QLC+ configuration. To make
them effective, you need to add them at the end of your configuration file.
4.1 Simple Desk
Category: simpledesk
Name: channelsperpage
Type: integer
Description: Set the number of DMX channel sliders displayed per page
Default: 32
Category: simpledesk
Name: playbacksperpage
Type: integer
Description: set the number of playback sliders displayed per page
Default: 15
4.2 DMX USB Enttec Open frequency
Category: enttecdmxusbopen
Name: frequency
Type: integer
Description: Set the DMX frame frequency in Hertz for Enttec Open (and similar) devices
Default: 30
4.3 DMX USB Enttec Open channels number
Category: enttecdmxusbopen
Name: channels
Type: integer
Description: Set the maximum number of DMX channels transmitted by an Enttec Open (and similar) devices.
This could solve flickering issues for some cases. For example you might try with 256.
Default: 512
4.4 uDMX frequency
Category: udmx
Name: frequency
Type: integer
Description: Set the DMX frame frequency in Hertz for uDMX devices
Default: 30
4.5 Master Timer frequency
Category: mastertimer
Name: frequency
Type: integer
Description: Set the QLC+ core timer frequency in Hertz
Default: 50
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GUI style customization
Starting from version 4.5.0, QLC+ can read a user custom file to change the GUI appearance in a
very accessible way.
If no file is found, QLC+ will start with the default style.
The GUI style file
The file name is hardcoded into QLC+ and must be: qlcplusStyle.qss
The style file must also be placed in a specific path which is:
Linux: $HOME/.qlcplus
Windows: Your user folder/QLC+
OSX: Library/Application Support/QLC+
The style file must have a CSS syntax. If you're comfortable with web designing, you should find
the creation of this file very easy !
Since the style file is strictly related to the inner Qt objects, you might want to read the following
articles to find out the elements' names and the additional CSS properties the Qt team added to
the default CSS syntax.
Qt Style Sheets
Qt Style Sheets Examples
It is up to your imagination how you prefer to customize the QLC+ GUI appearance! If you find a
style worth sharing, don't forget to send in your contribution by posting it online in the QLC+ forum
QLC+ dark blue style example
Just to give you an example of how easy this process is, here's a blue-ish dark style for QLC+.
If you copy the following lines into qlcplusStyle.qss in the right location as explained above,
you will see it immediately applied to QLC+.
QMainWindow, QDialog
{
background-color: #404B57;
color: #E6E6E6;
}
QTreeWidget
{
background-color: #3A444F;
alternate-background-color: #404B57;
color: #E6E6E6;
}
QTextBrowser
{
background-color: #3A444F;
color: #E6E6E6;
}
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